Yes, I realize I still have a few weeks left in 2014 before any of this gets put into motion but this no-mans land of repairing/regrouping/recovering is a land that makes me downright twitchy. I need order! Schedules! PLANS.
So here they are:
Qualify for Boston. (Duh.) This is a no-brainer and it's been hashed out a bajillion times here. I'm going to finish what I started and go for my BQ again at Wisconsin Marathon on May 3rd. No hyped-up super-fast start where I take off like a crazed banshee. No building myself up too big and psyching myself out the day of the race. None of that bullshit. It's time to take everything I've learned this year and put it to action.
Run a sub-1:40 half marathon. I feel like I'm a little farther off this goal than I am to a BQ but I'm banking on my next marathon training cycle getting me there. I'll take a stab at it at the Icebreaker Indoor Half next month to see how the chips fall but I'm also planning on running the Chi-Town Half Marathon in April. That will be close to the peak of marathon training so I should be in top shape by then. Also it's on my favorite stretch of the lakefront path in Chicago!
Return to trail running/ultrarunning. I had originally hoped to return to the trails this year if I had run a BQ time already. As we all know things don't always work out the way you plan so I'm banking on next summer being the time I can move back into ultra mode. I miss the trails. I also miss the super long miles run at whatever pace I feel like. I miss pushing myself in a way that's totally different than pushing for a fast time. Right now I'm about 95% sure I'll be doing the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler. I've run it twice and loved it both times. (I've run the 50K and the half out there as well. It's just a great event all around.) I'm sure I'll find myself at a 50K while I build up the miles- most likely Dances with Dirt.
And here's the part where I'm a bit loopy. For the past year I've had my eye running a 100K- specifically the Kettle Moraine 100K in June. Obviously I can't do it in 2015 if I'm still chasing a Boston qualifying time but I'm looking HARD at it for 2016. I know it's too far out right now to seriously think about but I can't deny the thought is there. If I have a good summer on the trails and a strong 50 next fall... well, you know where this is going.
Last, I'm registered for the Milwaukee Running Festival Marathon in November! If you think I'm missing the inaugural year of a hometown marathon that runs all through the city streets then you don't know me one bit. It's going to be one big damn party.
Of course there will be other shorter races and stuff along the way (for instance my 5th consecutive year of RAGNAR) but these are the big ones. The must-dos! But first I've got three more weeks left of aimless wandering- mixed in with some celebrating, holiday-ing and general good cheering.
Then we begin anew.
