My Goals For 2019

I’m all about goals, so I always start the year by posting my goals for the coming year.  This year, my goals aren’t as performance-oriented as they usually have been in the past, but I still have other goals.

Run More International Races

Every year since 2010, I’ve run or walked at least two marathons outside the United States.  This year, I’m stepping it up.  I’ve already booked six international trips.  There are still a few gaps in my race schedule, so I may still add another one.

 

What’s the long-term goal?  I’m not sure.  There’s isn’t a well-defined finish line.  It’s not like running marathons in every state.  It’s not feasible to run marathons in every country.  Some countries don’t have marathons.  Even if they did, I couldn’t afford to travel to every country.  International travel is expensive, and there are about 200 countries in the world.  I can’t even give you an exact count.  Deciding what should or shouldn’t be considered to be a country is more complicated than you might think.  I belong to a few different clubs that keep track of countries, and each one has a different country list.  Finally, there are some countries I would avoid, even if I could run a marathon there.  Some are at war.  Some are unsafe for other reasons.  Some have governments that are hostile to US citizens.

There are international destinations that interest me, and if they have races that sound interesting, I add them to my list.  For years, my list was growing.  For every international race I ran, I learned about two others that sounded interesting.  Now, finally, the list is beginning to shrink.  I suspect I’ll keep doing international races until the travel gets too difficult or too expensive.  Some trips are easier than others, and I’m crossing a lot of the easy ones off my list.

Qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon

This is the only performance-oriented goal on my list.  I used to take this one for granted.  For several years, I qualified for Boston more often than not.  The exceptions were races that had unusually difficult courses or unusually difficult weather.  In the spring of 2013, I ran marathons on seven consecutive weekends, and I qualified for Boston in all of them.

As you get older, you don’t bounce back from injuries as easily.  I’ve had some setbacks, and I never seem to get all the way back to where I was before.  I was overjoyed last summer when I qualified for Boston at the Manitoba Marathon.  It was the first time in three years that I qualified on a course that wasn’t downhill.  Then the BAA tightened the qualifying standards again.  Now I need to run five minutes faster.  The time I ran in Manitoba was a qualifier under the old standards, but it wouldn’t be a qualifier now.

Aside from doing the training, I need to lose about ten pounds.  If I can do that, I’ll probably be able to qualify on a flat course.  As a hedge, I’ve scheduled one race on a course that’s downhill, but with a gentle grade.  I’m avoiding the courses with steep downhill grades.  I’ve had some fast times on those courses, but I realize now that they’re too hard on my body.

Run at Least Four More Minnesota Marathons

Last year, there were five new marathons in Minnesota.  Those are the only five Minnesota marathons I haven’t done.  (I’m not including ultramarathons – there are too many of them.)  This year, I plan to run at least four of these races.  It’s unclear whether I can fit the last one into my schedule.  It might have to wait for another year.

Run an “X” Marathon

When I ran the Quad Cities Marathon in 2014, it was the first time I ran a marathon that had a name starting with a Q.  That brought me one step away from a whimsical goal of running marathons for every letter of the alphabet.  The only letter I’m missing is X.  I’m only aware of two marathons in the world that start with X.  One is the Xiamen International Marathon in China.  The other is a trail race in Florida called the X-Country Marathon.  I don’t count sponsor’s names, so none of the Xterra races would count toward this goal.  There’s a marathon in Xenia, Ohio, but I go by the name of the race, not the name of the city.

I seriously considered traveling to China to do the Xiamen International Marathon, but my plans for that race fell through.  Now I have my sights set on the X-Country Marathon, even though that name sounds kind of marginal.  That race has traditionally been held in late November.  I haven’t seen a date for the 2019 race, so for now my plans are tentative.  We’ll see.  It would be nice to finally finish this goal, but it hasn’t been my top priority.

Make Progress Toward My Next Circuit of 50 States

When I finished my first circuit marathons in all 50 states, I didn’t have plans to do another one.  This year, I finished my third circuit, and I noticed I had already run four marathons in more than half of the states.  I’ve also run a fifth marathon in 18 of them.

There isn’t any rush, but I’ll probably eventually finish five circuits of the states.  As I schedule races, I’ll make sure a few of them are in states where I still need my fourth or fifth marathon.

Find the Right Balance, Part 1

Last year, I cut back on travel, but I reached a point where I wasn’t doing enough long training runs to stay in shape.  I don’t plan to go back to running marathons almost every weekend, like I was for a few years, but I do plan to run them often enough that I can use them as my long training runs.  It seems like every two or three weeks is about right.

Find the Right Balance, Part 2

I also want to find the right balance between running and walking.  When I couldn’t run, I got into great shape by doing high mileage walking.  I had originally intended to keep up a certain amount of walking as I gradually did more running.  That didn’t happen.  My walking mileage kind of fell off a cliff in the second half of 2018.

Ideally, I’d like to run about 50 miles a week and then supplement my mileage with walking to get to about 100 miles a week total.  To do that, I need to do two workouts per day.  I might be able to do that in the summer months, but I don’t currently have any enthusiasm to do that in the winter.  Those long walking workouts on the treadmill can get mind-numbingly boring.  Last year, I played all kinds of mental games to keep myself motivated.  Eventually, I ran out of mental games.

Only time will tell how well I can use walking to build my mileage again.  It probably won’t happen until it gets warmer.