I know! It’s not Jan 1 yet. But I just couldn’t wait to post my goals for next year. Obviously the biggie is the marathon, but I think after I finish (hopefully!) that I want to work on speed a little bit. I’m pretty confident that I can achieve these goals, but I think they’re challenging enough for me that I will have to work pretty hard on them.
I think the best part of being a fairly “new” runner (began in March 09) is that I can realistically expect to …

Marathons:

The Big Sur International Marathon
One look at the photos from this race and you can’t help but want to run it. Participants wind their way along Highway One between Big Sur and Carmel, along the Pacific Ocean. It’s gorgeous. Bart Yasso said that “If we were told that we could run only one marathon in our lifetime, Big Sur would have to be it.”
The New York Marathon
A no-brainer! I’ll definitely be entering the lottery again this year, assuming marathon #1 doesn’t cause me to swear off running forever. One …

I did it! I registered for the National Marathon. On March 20th I will be running with 12,000 other marathoners and half marathoners, hopefully crossing the finish line in one piece. I’ve got a lot to learn about marathoning in the meantime, which is why it’s a good thing that I have six months to learn all I can.
I’ll be using this training plan from Runners World, and I think I’m going to aim for an average of 10:00 miles (4:22 marathon). But I’ll be happy just to finish :) …

This week I’m cutting back my mileage to recover a little and recharge, so I’ve been using the time to look back on my past races and look forward to races that are coming up and my long-term goals.
Past Races:
5/16/2009 – Piney Orchard 5k  – PR @ 26:22
5/31/2009 – Zooma Annapolis 10k – PR @ 1:00:01
9/26/2009 – Virginia 10 Miler – PR @ 1:34:25
Upcoming Races (Registered):
10/24/2009 – Charlottesville Fall Classic 10k

I’ll be happy with anything under an hour, but I’ll be ecstatic if I could make it in 58 minutes …