Believe it or not, I had a blog post written in early January about a summary of my wonderful 2018 running year. I just never got around to typing it – until now. Instead I got other projects done, like my hexagon afghan that I started in early 2017. It took me two years to get it done! And some other stuff on my long to-do list; getting this blog post up wasn’t a priority.

My crocheted hexagon/graphene blanket

 

So here it is:

Not gonna lie – it was a pretty amazing year of running for me. It was also a long time coming. See this note? These were the goals I wrote in January 2016, following my first marathon in the fall of 2015.

Kept my goals taped up since I wrote them

I picked 800 miles arbitrarily. In 2016, I didn’t achieve any of those goals. Not. Even. Close.

My 5k time that year was from a 3-mile time trial (not even with the extra 0.1!) and settled at 26:08. My 10k time was 54:06 (from the Big Bird Race, of course). And my half marathon time was 1:55:48. I finished 2016 with a little less than 500 miles. Aiming for 800 miles was a bit much. I thought it was realistic but it wasn’t. I attributed my fewer miles during each undergraduate year as a result from taking 16-18 credit hours a semester. I didn’t really think how much running 800 miles in a year really was. I’ll have you know, I can recall thinking while it certainly was ambitious, but it was achievable. But it wasn’t because I wasn’t as strong of a runner yet.

In 2017 I ran 944 miles. At the end of my “fall racing season” I was sooo close to the 1,000 miles mark. But I couldn’t make my body do it. I made the 800 miles goal but readily accepted not making the next benchmark.

So how did my 2018 miles fair out? I reached 1000 miles by September 10th! This is in large part by training for and running a marathon in the first half of the year. I finished 2018 with the RW Run Streak, to keep motivated in December. I finished with 1,260 miles. Do I have a mileage goal for 2019? Nope! I don’t have a number goal to run more or less than I did in 2018.

That paper was my first written running goals. It took a while to achieve. In 2017 I got a few of them, over a year later from when I wrote them! I had resolved to run one race a month. This included my first time running races in January, February, and December months. I also got over my shyness and started going to speedwork sessions put on by Hanson’s Running. Yes, in 2016, I did interval workouts but doing them on my own was not enough.

a little bit of weighted ab work in 2016

And what about those time goals? In 2017 I had my first 5k time under 25 minutes in seven years! And my goal for that race was based off the paces I picked at those speedwork sessions. My 10k time was 48:26.5. I kinda sorta got it. My half marathon goal was still quite out of reach (the best that year was barely under 1:54). Although I should be ready to race no matter the conditions I felt robbed as I was expecting cooler fall temps and instead got 90 degrees F and high humidity or high winds. I truly felt I was capable of a 1:48 half marathon. And guess what? I still didn’t get my 2016 written goal.

The end of September shouldn’t have hit 90F an hour or two after I finished the race

Now, if you’re still with me, how did my 2018 wrap up? I PR’d in the 5k, half, and marathon. (By the time my annual fall Big Bird 10k rolled around, I was mentally and physically done.) I went to yoga 59 times! (I really slacked in November and December – only went once each month).

Still smiling!

Even though I don’t have any mileage goals for 2019, I do think it’s important to have written running goals. My non-running resolutions include:

  • cooking a new recipe once a week (let’s be real, that salad once a week was just not going to happen; I only made it to March last year)
  • resist the temptation to pick up food after a good run (not that it was terribly bad for you but I frequented Panera and Qdoba probably too many times)
  • pick out my outfit for the work week on Sunday night (less time deciding the night before and hopefully more sleep)

It’s the end of February and I’ve been keeping up with these well. It’s a promising start.

And my running goals, written out:

I *think* I’ll get the sub 23 5k in the first half of the year. It’s a thought. Low 22 would be kinda cool. I need to be realistic about that half marathon goal. And I would really like to do a mile race or two. I’m going to wait until after my first 5k of the year before choosing a goal. I did a mile time trial in January in 7:37. Sub 7 minutes would be a good starting goal. I hope to do more cross-training throughout the year, something other than yoga. I’m thinking of trying a cardio boxing class. I loved the cardio kickboxing classes I did in undergrad.

And that’s it. That’s my long awaited wrap up of 2018. Just need to pick out some spring races!

Do you set any mileage goals for the year? What are your racing goals?