2014 Running Goals

I make New Year's goals. I don't care for resolutions. Once you break them or slip up it can be hard to find motivation and to keep going. Goals on the other hand give you something to shoot for. I like the quote, "He who fails to plan, plans to fail." 2013 was a down year for me. Maybe not so coincidentally I also didn't have any goals for the year. This year I won't make the same mistake. Here are my  2014 running goals:

4. Run a sub 4 hour marathon
Not a major goal and possibly not realistic. The only sub 4 hour marathon I ever ran was my first one in 2001. I may not even shoot for it, meaning I may not even run a road marathon. We'll see how the year is going when I get closer to the price increase deadline.

3. Get back to my normal speed in a 5K
I only ran one 5K this year. My time was not surprisingly a disappointing 23:19. To meet this goal and be satisfied I need to get back down to around the mid 21 minute range so a 21:20 - 21:40 would be good.

2. Beat my PB Oil Creek 100K time
This year I had a horrendous race and therefore a not very good time for me in the OC 100K, 18:59:11. That had nothing to do with Tom Jennings as RD or all the great volunteers. The heat really crushed me. I was not ready for 80 degrees in northwestern PA in October. To meet this goal I have to beat my 2010 time of 17:44:24.

1. Have fun!!!
In 2014 I am running my favorite races that are within 3.5 hours driving time. Last year I forgot that one of the three major reasons I run is for the enjoyment of it. I didn't have any new distances to challenge myself, my fitness was not great due to injuries and too much time off, and I forgot to just have fun. This year I plan to make sure I have fun running my favorite races. Hopefully I'll see some of you at these races.

Thanks for reading. What are you goals for the year? Feel free to add them in the comments.

Run Like a Horse,
Mick