I'm not AFRAID to share them... I just don't like to jinx myself. 

(If I wouldn't have SAID I wanted a sub-1:40 at Tel Aviv, it totally would have happened, injury be damned.)

That's a good topic, onemile.

I was like you, fairly accurate in picking my goals, so not afraid to state them. But lately, I've been feeling pressure (could be all in my head) to perform and it stresses me. The pressure comes from the forums, but also from family members. After 14 marathons, at my age, I feel I may have reached my limits. I train as hard as I can, but this year, I haven't seen any improvements. When I talk about this, here or with friends, I am told that it's nothing, that the improvements will come, nothing is impossible, etc, etc... I know people are trying to be positive and I appreciate that. But what if they are wrong and I have seen my biggest PRs and now I can only hope to hang on for a while, and then slow down? Will I be judged for that? My goals for my upcoming races are slower than my marathon PR, because it's more important for me to be realistic than to be hopeful. I don't like sharing my goals anymore, because I feel like a wuss for not believing that I can get faster. But on the other hand, I am in tune with my body and I know that it's not because I haven't tried my best. I have to be realistic, so to hell with PRs. I guess I am now entering the AG PRs phase. 

Obviously, there is no such thing as "running gods" or a "jinx" - it's just the excuse people use to avoid putting out a goal and then feeling like a failure in front of their peers.   And if you watched the Loser video I posted, maybe we should be putting it out there on the line more often.

This is coming from someone who has been jinxed by the running gods plenty. 

I may be reaching a point where I won't be willing to share my goals after several major failures to reach them this year.

That's a good topic, onemile.

 

I was like you, fairly accurate in picking my goals, so not afraid to state them. But lately, I've been feeling pressure (could be all in my head) to perform and it stresses me. The pressure comes from the forums, but also from family members. After 14 marathons, at my age, I feel I may have reached my limits. I train as hard as I can, but this year, I haven't seen any improvements. When I talk about this, here or with friends, I am told that it's nothing, that the improvements will come, nothing is impossible, etc, etc... I know people are trying to be positive and I appreciate that. But what if they are wrong and I have seen my biggest PRs and now I can only hope to hang on for a while, and then slow down? Will I be judged for that? My goals for my upcoming races are slower than my marathon PR, because it's more important for me to be realistic than to be hopeful. I don't like sharing my goals anymore, because I feel like a wuss for not believing that I can get faster. But on the other hand, I am in tune with my body and I know that it's not because I haven't tried my best. I have to be realistic, so to hell with PRs. I guess I am now entering the AG PRs phase. 

See, I find this hard to believe that your PR's are behind you - mostly because your paces / workouts are beyond what I can do. And your training.  Maybe you are training too hard and not getting enough recovery?  Running yourself into the ground?  (I am just speculating here).

In regards to the pressure, I know that I am the only one who cares about my race times. No one else does. Any pressure I feel is pressure I put on myself. And I can't really imagine anyone here on this forum or any forum would judge you other than be impressed with the effort you put forth in your training and racing.

But I can see why you feel frustrated if you feel like you aren't seeing the progress you want. It sucks to feel like you are doing everything you can and not seeing results. And even if you don't PR again (which I don't believe is the case), you have 14 impressive marathons under your belt and no one can take that away from you.

I am superstitious enough to believe in jinxes and running gods...... Deena Kastor believes in running gods! She admitted it on Spirit of the Marathon 

For first timers like a marathon, I don't really want to announce my crazy goal, I will announce my conservative goal if asked. Yesterday some people on here  (including lily) cornered me and demanded my crazy goal so I caved.

Which reminds me, tomorrow officially marks 30 days until the IMM so do not be concerned if I start soundin crazy.........er.

I don't mind sharing my race goals with friends and family members who are interested and I would share here if prompted. My goals tend to be pretty conservative, though, since I haven't "raced" much, so I'm usually not worried about falling short. And, lately, my goals have typically been to have fun and finish uninjured - I don't like having a set time goal if I don't have enough information to base it off of.