When setting goals, we are best served by having short and long term goals. It's great if the long term goals make you weak in the knees, focus on the short term goals to strengthen those knees.
Don't forget to look up (and around) once in a while. If we become too rigid or too focused and single-minded, we miss the beauty along the way, we miss new opportunities or possibilities that show up and we might lose sight of our goal.
Don't stop once you reach the top. Sometimes reaching a goal can be anti-climatic, but that doesn't mean to just jump into the next goal. Take time to celebrate your success. Celebrate! Maybe on a run like this it is just a smile at yourself or throwing your hands up in the air in victory, but whatever you do, don't forget to celebrate.
Then, reflect, restore and relax. The downhill portion is easy, gravity will just take you all the way to the end. But, this is the time to reflect on what you learned about yourself, your beliefs and abilities. It's time to ground that expansion that occurred inside you on the journey up so that it anchors into the cells of your being. "I did this." "I am enough" "I am supported". It is a time to rest and restore the body, mind and spirit. Many people forget about this step and find themselves forced to rest because of illness or severe body pain or fatigue. Reflect, rest and restore.
The journey up and the journey down are just as important as reaching the goal, I would say more important. It is where we learn about who we are, who we can be. There is an understanding, a clarity and and expansion of wisdom that occurs when we stay in line with who we are as we climb towards those goals. It doesn't matter if you reach the top, it matters if you pay attention to who you are on the journey, what you choose on the journey and what you learn on the journey.
Life isn't just about the peaks and valleys, it's about the lessons in between.