This is my third quarterly review of the goals I set at the beginning of the year.  I’m a few days late with this post.  At the end of September, I was in Munich for Oktoberfest, so I was a bit preoccupied.

I’ve reached three of my goals, and I’ve made progress on most of the others.  I see no reason why I can’t reach all my goals by the end of the year.

Run 3,000 Miles in 2024

Through the first nine months of 2024, I ran 2,720,65 miles.  I’m just 279.35 miles shy of my goal of 3,000.  I’ve been averaging about 300 miles per month, so I could hit 3,000 by the end of October.

Run at Least 100 Miles in the FANS 24-Hour Run

I reached this goal in June.  There’s nothing new to say about it.

Run My 100th Minnesota Marathon

I ran seven Minnesota marathons in July, bringing my lifetime total to 103.  I celebrated #100 with Mainly Marathons on the third day of the Summer Camp Series.

Run Marathons in 50 Countries

I didn’t run marathons in any new countries in the third quarter, so my lifetime total is still 49.  I’ll get my 50th country in November when I run a marathon in Andorra.  I have another international trip scheduled in December, so I expect to finish the year with 51 countries.

Run Outdoors Whenever Possible

I’ve yet to do any indoor running this year.  During the summer, the biggest challenge was scheduling around thunderstorms.  Winter will be more challenging, but that’s still several weeks away.

Qualify for the National Senior Games

The Minnesota Senior Games were held in August.  My stated goal was to qualify for the National Senior Games in the road race and race-walking events.  To do that, I just needed to finish one of the road race events and place in the top four in my age group in one of the race-walk events.

I placed second in my age group in the 5K road race, first in my age group in the 10K road race, and first overall in both of the race-walking events.  I exceeded my goals by a wide margin.  I was a little disappointed with my times in the race-walk events, but that’s something to work on for next year.

Stay on Schedule to Finish a 5th Circuit of 50 States in 2025

At a minimum, I wanted to make enough progress toward a fifth circuit of 50 states that I could finish by the middle of 2025.  I’m now on track to finish by the end of this year.

So far this year, I’ve run marathons in Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming, and Ohio.  To finish my fifth circuit, I just need to do marathons in New Jersey and Oklahoma.  Both of those races are scheduled.  I’ll finish at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa.