DAUNTING

The good news is that it warmed up to 13 degrees this morning. The bad news is that the wind picked up. Right now it says it’s 17 mph with gust up to 26 mph. There’s talk of temps in the mid-30s to 40 this weekend. That’ll be nice. Hopefully it’ll be enough to clear the snow off all the paths.

Anyway, I managed an easy 10 miles this morning. My left hip is still sore to the touch, but okay to run. I think it has more to do with falling while skiing, rather than skiing itself.

I haven’t seen a lot of New Year’s resolutions in blog-land – maybe runners tend to avoid that stuff and just go with the goal setting instead. I haven’t set any resolutions either, however, I’m going to try and cutback on eating my way through all the crap in the office. Hopefully, now that the holidays are over, that’ll be a lot easier just by not having as much around.

As for goals, I’ve mentioned a few here and there. I suppose I put a little more thought into them and write them all down in one place. Here’s what comes to mind;

Mileage Goals:
3,500 miles for the year
1,000 miles during a 3-month stretch this winter (i.e. November – January or December – February)
1,000 miles during a 3-month stretch this summer (i.e. May – July or June – August)

Time Goals:
Sub-17:30 5K
Sub-29:00 8K
Sub-36:30 10K
6:00 pace for 15K
Sub-1:21 half
Sub-2:50 marathon

Other Goals:
Sub-3 at Boston and TCM would mean I’ve run sub-3 on every marathon course I’ve run.
Run the Pavvo Nurmi Marathon for “fun”.
Run a 50K for “fun”.

I’m sure there are more, but that’s a good start. Now that I look at the list, it’s kind of daunting. My highest yearly mileage is 3,204, I’ve only had one 3-month stretch of 1,000 miles in my life, and I haven’t run any of the times for 5K – half since my college days. However, if I can run the mileage goals, I think the time goals will come. Probably the safest goals are the last two.

Quote of the day;

“It’s a practice in not quitting.” – Pat Williams, Orlando Magic coach on why he runs marathons