New Year, New Goals, New Age Group

Well, here we are. Another new year and a load of possibilities in front of us. Running has done a lot of things to me in 2008 and one of them is give me focus. Even if the focus is only in running and endurance sports, at least I have focus somewhere. This will be the first time, ever in my life, that I am setting measurable goals and laying out an overall plan for the year to come.

First, my overall plan for the year. Then my goals.

I am going to rest for the first week in January and make sure my leg is okay. Tomorrow I am getting fitted for shoes for the first time, so that might help. January is also bringing a vacation to Disney world in Orlando. A full week down there will bring good times with family and hopefully some good runs in the nice weather.

When I return from Disney it will be time to start my first official training program for the Broad Street Run on May 3. If no other 5k's come around until then, than this will be my third race. Not only that but it will be my longest and largest race yet. I am both excited and confident I can do it.

I will be using a training program from Smart Coach on runnersworld.com with a few customizations of my own to the program. My goal time as of right now is 1:45 but I will be happy if I break 2 hours.

After that I will continue to run and build my mileage through the summer. I will also be running as many 5k's and 10k's that I can find. My main goal through the spring and summer will be to build mileage and endurance.

August 2nd is exactly sixteen weeks until the Philadelphia Marathon. Philly is going to be my first marathon and this is when I will start my training program for it. I have not decided how I will make my training program since it is so far away, but I will probably customize another smart coach plan.

Leading up to Philly I will focus on training as hard as I can while still being safe and injury free. There are two major races that I want to run during that time. September 20th is the ING Philadelphia Distance Run. I will integrate this one into my training plan, and most likely just use it as a faster than normal training run rather than an all out race.

November 2nd is the Run The Bridge 10k. This seems to be a fantastic run, and it is a race I could have done last year, had I stuck with my running from the beginning. So this year I have to come with a vengeance.

When the marathon rolls around I hope to be well trained and in much better shape than I am now. It is my first marathon so just getting there and finishing it will be a great accomplishment, but my ideal dream time right now is under 4 hours. I think it is realistic to break 4 hours, and I will be training all year to do just that.

So that is my overall plan for the year. I will also be entering the two 5k's that I entered last year, and revisit my journey into running. I am also planning to incorporate a lot more cycling into my training programs and cross training. I went for my first ride since July today and it felt great!

Now here are my specific goals for 2009. I am sure there will be more to come as we get further into the year.

* Run 600 miles
* Cycle 1000 miles
* Run the Broad Street Run (goal 1:45)
* Run the Philadelphia Marathon (sub 4 hours)
* Run at least 12 races this year.
* Place in my age group in at least one 5k

Speaking of age groups, today is my birthday. I am thirty which means I am in a whole new age group!