2009 Goals

I have officially decided on some running goals for 2009. Some of them are pretty aggressive, but if I keep at it I think I should be able to attain most of them. I honestly am not expecting to accomplish all of them (although that would be wonderful) - part of the problem will be finding enough races to fit into my schedule. I have listed the goals in the sidebar...so I can see them every time I visit my blog!

Hopefully, I will be accomplishing the first goal in January...running a 1 mile race. There are a couple indoor track events that I am considering. I have never been to an indoor track event (or any track event), so it should be interesting. I checked last year's results and it looks like I will probably be the slowest one there...but hey - someone has to do it, right?

Thanks Santa!

For the higher temps. I actually got a couple outside runs in over the holiday!

Christmas Eve afternoon I decided to try a short run...I made it 1.5 miles. My legs were about to the limit (cold-wise) when I made it home. A chilly run, but the first outdoor run this month!

Then, Christmas day was looking so good...a little warmer (teens) and sunny with little wind...that I just had to go out again. I started the same 1.5 mile route I did the day before, but since I wasn't getting cold, I decided to make it longer. Well, I got a couple miles out and decided to cut through some "Minimum Maintenance" trails to get back home...WOW, running in a couple inches of snow up and down hills is hard work!! I was completely beat when I got home (about 3 miles) but it felt so good!

This morning I went to the gym.

I hope Santa was good to you too!

Such a Slacker!

I have been a big slacker lately...as you can tell from my lack of posting. I went out of town for Turkey day and it threw off my routine. I actually went for a couple runs while out of town, but when I got back it took me about 2 weeks to actually get into the gym for a run (it has been WAY too cold/icy for me to run outside).

So, now that I am over a week back in my routine I finally feel like I am not a slacker anymore. I am definitely not going to make that 100 mile month for December, but maybe January? We will have to see.

100 Mile Month

No, not yet - but I have suddenly gotten the urge to do it. I don't think I will be able to do it in November. Maybe December? Good chance in January. Whenever, I have decided that my first 100 mile month is going to be a winter running goal for me. Sometime between Nov - March (yes, in MN I consider March a winter month!) I hope to average about 3.33 miles per day for an entire month. Hey, whatever keeps me motivated, right? In case you're wondering, my PR for monthly miles is 88.98 which I did in August this year.

Winter Plans

My running goals for 2008 have been accomplished...I finished my first 8K, 10K, and half marathon, and ran a 5K in under 30 minutes. I feel really good about 2008.

But I still have a couple months left - what should I do with them? I don't want to lose too much fitness over the winter months. I still have more goals to accomplish in the future. I would like to start 2009 in better shape than 2008. I would like to run a half marathon without struggling through the last 5K. I would like to finish a marathon. I would like to improve my 8K and 10K times. I would like to someday have a 5K time that starts with 27:xx. I would like to have an official 1 mile time (and then beat it). But where to start? What to work on first? What are going to be my goals for 2009? What should I work on over the winter? Should I focus on improving my speed? Maintaining my long run distance? Just running x times per week? Lightening up on my running and work on more cross-training? There are so many options!