Re-evaluating Goals

I still feel really pumped from the excitement of last week and I've even started a bit of research about how to pursue my writing dreams!  I put some pretty big, scary goals out there, but I've also taken some time to re-evaluate an existing big, scary goal; my Declare It Day Goal.  My goal was to do a 2:30 half marathon by the end of 2015.  I knew when I put that goal out there that it would be a huge challenge for me, but over the past few weeks, I've realized it is almost an impossible goal and I feel as though I'm setting myself up for failure.  I'm generally a pretty optimistic person, but considering my time in Little Rock a few weeks ago was 3:26:53, I would need to take almost an hour off of my finish time and I'm just not sure that is feasible in the next 8 1/2 months.

Here is a bit of the current battle in my head.  On the one hand, I feel like I need to, and want to, commit to the goal I set out to do.  I mean, I put it out there on the Internet for goodness sake!  Is it going to be hard?  Hell yes, but I'm not one to back down from a challenge.  

On the other hand, is it really an attainable goal given the state of my running and my weight at the moment?  I plan to work on both this year, but I feel like I am starting from square one and I'm not sure this is the right goal for me right now.  

Or am I just shying away from this goal because it's going to be really hard?  Maybe, but I usually don't shy away from a challenge.  I'm also not exactly at my mental or physical, I can do anything peak.  

My friend, Stacy, asked me what led me to the 2:30 goal and I truly can't articulate why I chose that time goal.  It has always been the number that I think of when running a half and I realize, that isn't a good premise for a goal, but it's just stuck in my head as the holy running grail for me. 

I think it might be better for me to revise my Declare It Day goal to run a 2:45 half marathon.  It feels like a cop out to back down from my original goal, considering that the point of a goal is to push your boundaries and challenge yourself, but I also think that your goal should be somewhat attainable and I just don't foresee a 2:30 marathon in my future this year.  I think a 2:45 half is certainly still quite a challenge and will involve a lot of hard work, commitment, and focus on my part and it is at least in the realm of possibility for me. 

What do you think?  Is a 2:30 half marathon a reasonable goal considering that would involve a nearly 60 minute improvement over my current time?  Or is it reasonable to re-evaluate and set a revised goal?  

Along these same lines, I saw the below quote at a local high school this weekend and I adore it!  However, it does make me wonder if all of the above thoughts are just obstacles because I've taken my eyes off my 2:30 goal.  The internal dilemma continues!

"Obstacles are things a person sees when they take their eyes off their goals." ~ E. Joseph Crossman