Races & Goals for 2013

I'm a girl who loves a goal.  Without goals, life would be boring, right?  I have so many running goals for this year it's hard to keep up with them.  They range from states, to times, to stretching my comfort zone to running with new groups.

Let's start with the comfort zone stretching and new groups.  Last week I ran with the Lululemon Hill Center group on Thursday morning.  I'm definitely a midpack runner and my fear when I run in a new race or group is that everyone will be faster than me.  I know this fear is irrational.  And that even if everyone is faster than me, that it's not a big deal.  I never considered not going to the run, but as the run started, I definitely considered going back to my car.  The work out was a speed/track workout and, though intimidating and slightly painful, it was awesome!  It felt so good to push myself.  I hope to make it to this run at least every other week when I don't have to get Jesse to school.  I also want to run with the Nolensville running club.  I'm scared of them too, but I have several friends there so hopefully, I won't get left behind.  At least not the first week.

When we did the Women's Half Marathon in Minnesota last August, I saw a group of sisters finish the race holding hands and wearing matching shirts.  Yes, I realize how incredibly cheesy this sounds.  But I want it all the same.  Since then I've been begging my sister to run a race with me.  I've finally gotten her to agree to run the San Diego Half in June.  And her sister in law is running it too.  I'm so excited.  I can't wait to start training with her and designing the most ridiculous shirts/tanks I can for the three of us.  I'm also hoping that after Mark has his hip replacement and recovers that we will be able to run together again this year.  Even if it's just a short fun run.

I have time goals I want to reach in 2013.  I PRd both the half and full distance in 2012.  And, of course, I need to beat those times in 2013.  My current half PR is 2:18.  My goal is 2:14:59 or faster.  I have a couple of goal races for that time.  I also want to finish a marathon in 4:59:59 (5:21 is my current PR) or faster.  I'm not completely certain I can do that this year, since the marathon I want to finish is Nike Women's in San Fransisco.  But that's my goal and I'm willing to put in the work to get there.  I've never been consistent with speed work or tempo runs, but I know I have to improve and commit to them to reach my time goals.

I want to do Nike Women's as a part of Team in Training.  Which means I'll be begging everyone I know to contribute to my fundraising.  Believe me, if it wasn't an organization I believe in and support whole heartedly I wouldn't do it.  It's an incredible cause that supports and changes the lives of people with blood cancer.  More on that in a future post. 

As for other races in 2013.  I've bought the Rock n Roll Tour Pass which lets me run in as many of their North American runs as I want.  I'm doing all halfs with the pass.  They include New Orleans, USA, Country Music, San Diego and Vegas.  I'm also considering Philly, Chicago, St. Louis and Denver if I can get the schedule and budget to cooperate.  Other halfs for the year include Mississippi Blues, Virginia Beach (as part of a double weekend with the RnR USA), Tom King (with my bestie Julie), and the Knoxville half marathon.

Today, Gail, Nicole and I ran the 11.2 mile loop at Percy Warner park.  In nearly 3 years of half and marathon training, I've managed to avoid this training run.  Not always on purpose, I should add.  I feel a tiny bit guilty that I haven't done it before today.  Running this course feels like a rite of passage in the running community.  It's one of the hilliest and most challenging courses you can get here.  But it's beautiful and it feels like you've really accomplished something when you are done.  See I'm stretching my comfort zone already.  It's going to be a great year of running.