New Years Goals

It seems like now is the time to hop on the bandwagon and establish my goals for the new year. I don't really want to say "resolutions", because I don't feel I have much to resolve. I feel like I'm finally on a path that I'm truly happy about and proud of, as I should be. I have accomplished and grown so much in the last year. Looking back, 2013 has been a really life changing year.

1. I Changed my major and decided to become a registered dietitian.
2. I Ran my first 10k
3. I Ran my first half marathon
4. I Ran my first MARATHON (yes, all three happened in the same year!)
5. I switched to a whole foods plant based diet

If you would have told me at this time last year that I would have accomplished all of these things, I probably would have look at you like you were on some kind of drugs. It's absolutely amazing to me what you can accomplish in a year. So, that being said, I would like to lay out some new goals to work towards and strive for in 2014. Some may be more realistic than others, but there's no satisfaction in accomplishing goals that are easy. So, here we go:

Goal 1- To run a sub 2 hour half. This one shouldn't be too difficult, seeing as I was injured during my first half... not to mention it was a trail run. Plus, I signed up for a new years day half marathon, so this should be easily met before the year even gets going.

Goal 2- To run a sub 4:00 marathon. Now, this one is going to be more of a reach for me considering I finished my last marathon in 4:54:04. That's nearly a full hour to shave off! However, I plan on running one in the spring and one in the fall. I hope to run a sub 4:30 for the spring marathon, and a sub 4:00 for the fall. I know this is a stretch, but I need a few goals to strive for. Plus, I was injured for my last marathon, and feel as long as I can avoid injury, these should be fairly reasonable goals.

Goal 3- To log 2014 miles in 2014. Now, before you go crazy, let me explain. I will be counting ALL miles logged, not just miles ran. Meaning that my cross training miles from the elliptical/bike each week will also count towards this goal. I'm going to finish this year with about 1,200 miles logged, but I didn't start tracking my mileage until about March. Plus, I have built my mileage up from around 15 miles a week to about 35 miles a week. Considering I eventually get up to my goal (50 miles a week) this is actually a pretty reasonable goal.

Well, I think that's all of them. Long term goals will be completing an ultra and eventually qualifying for a Boston marathon. However, neither of those seem like thing I need to be striving for in the coming year. I can't wait to see what 2014 brings, and am excited for another year to to push my limits and reach new heights!