Matt Lindner, Chicago-based freelance writer for publications like ESPN.com and The Chicago Tribune got up on January 1, 2017 to run not only his first run of marathon training for the Bank of American Chicago Marathon, but for his first run since high school.

He knew that if he waited until the official training period began, he'd lose motivation from feeling too far behind his peers. And since the bitter cold winter mornings in January, Matt's continued to get up and run three days a week, adding up the mileage bit by bit.

Now, eight months into training for the short term goal of running a marathon - and the long term goal of building healthier lifelong habits - Matt enjoys getting up at 5 am to run far distances. He recognizes an uptick in his overall productivity and he's found the kind of goal setting that resonates with him in his running game and in life.

"It's great to have a big goal - in life and in marathon training - but to help motivate myself throughout the process I [like to] set smaller goals as well," Matt says.

On today's podcast episode, hear Matt's humorous take on his shift in perspective throughout 2017 on life, health and what's important to him in the long run.