Last year I took a hiatus from races. This year I’m back and I originally started with the goal of qualifying for the United Half 2027. Today on my long training run, I realized I want to set some running goals for this race season and for the next few years.
I usually don’t focus too much on speed because I just want to have fun and not put too much pressure on myself. I feel like this is how you suck the fun out of things. But I have felt myself getting slower over the years because I wasn’t focusing on speed so now I want to give it more attention and set some conservative goals. I’m going to start small and use them as stepping stones to get to the next. I also want to train my mental mindset to not see failure as a negative but more so a “What can I learn from this?” and “What can I do better next time?” To take it in as information and data to be worked on for next time and not be so hard on myself. I have never looked at another runner and thought that of them so why shouldn’t I also be my own cheerleader and be just as supportive of myself as I am for my fellow runners!? It’s crazy that we are own own worst enemies and critics. Let’s get out of that habit.
Anyways, here are my new goals I’m setting for myself:
Brooklyn Half Finish Goal: 12:30 pace, finish under 2:45
Bronx 10 miler: finish under 2 hours
Qualify for United Half Marathon 2027
United Half Marathon Goal: 11:30 pace, 2:30 finish time
Long term goal: Eventually run a sub 2:00 half marathon (this is very out of reach for me but hey, I have the rest of my life to work on this)
RunDisney Coast to Coast medal
RunDisney Paris (if they ever bring them back)
RunDisney Castle to Chateau medal
RunDisney Hong Kong
Run at least 1 international race (Paris, Hong Kong, Japan (Tokyo? Kyoto?)
LA Marathon
Dopey for 40th birthday?
Admittedly, because I don’t really stress over my times, I don’t really look at my race results much. Which is good and bad. Good because I don’t obsess over it, bad because I could’ve worked on this sooner. But honestly the past few years when I was running, my focus was just on having fun and completing the damn races. I did complete the fun run goals because I do love all my race photos and you can see the runner’s high flowing through them. Now that I know I can do all this, I guess it’s time to hone in and lock down on new goals. It’ll give me a new focus and hopefully bring a fun aspect to it and not an obsessive one. I know how I tend to get when I fixate on something, so I’m really hoping to not do that this time around.
I ran the United Half virtual a few weeks ago and looking at the results, it looks pretty bad, not my best time honestly but I ran it just to get it over with, without any training under my belt at the time. Today I ran my 9.5 mile training long run and my pace was closer to 12 min miles so I’m happy that since starting my half marathon training 3 weeks ago, there’s definitely been progress. Fingers crossed, I can pick it up and progress even more in 7 weeks in time for the Brooklyn Half. Looking at my results from the first time I did the Brooklyn Half, I’m hoping I can finish it in 2:45 to beat my 2:47. I wish I could run it faster and set a better goal but I’m being conservative to not disappoint myself but also because I ran it already and I remember those hills in the beginning of the route are no joke. If I can even match my time from 4 years ago, honestly I’ll take that as a win. But hopefully I can best myself.
Also, yes lol I am aware I said I’m retired from full marathons but my goal list has the LA marathon and the Dopey for my 40th on there. These are stretch goals because I am a dumb impressionable idiot and I saw a girl run the LA marathon and posted a reel about all the foods she ate during it and it looks so damn fun. I’ll probably regret it during training if I sign up for it, but hey, I love any reason to go back to LA. And Dopey for my 40th in case I don’t have any other plans by then to celebrate my 40th because why not? Sounds unhinged to run 26.2 for fun for your 40th? Well, it is. But I like to do a lot of stupid unhinged things so it’s on brand for me.
Here’s to hopefully checking off at least half these goals in a few years!
