2018 Goals?

Yikes...its been awhile...and I suppose before we hit February I should think about some goals for 2018...so this was kind of a tough one for me. The last two years I've been pretty focused on some big goals at Leadville and Run Rabbit...and while I still have more goals at those races I pretty much nailed my big ones. Last summer I also told myself I really needed to take a summer off of 100s. Its not that the distance is too much for my body to handle, but the training last summer was tough. Every time we went camping I was stressed about how I was going to get my long run in. I just kept wanting to have a more relaxing summer where we could camp on a whim without planning a 20 miler. So as hard as its been to not click register on a 100...with the exception of the Hardrock lottery because well...when you get picked you run no matter what...I've held myself back. Its easy during the winter to get caught up in the excitement and the next thing you're back in the same place you were wishing you didn't have to do that 20+ miles again and could just go out for a paddle instead.

Plus there wasn't a goal I'd been thinking about for months or years already so I was at a loss as to what race I would even run. Dan's running Run Rabbit and we have a wedding the weekend of Leadville so those races were out. Superior is the weekend before RRR and that would just be too much even for crazies like us. A flat 100 like Kettle...totally not in my wheelhouse...I need mountains to hike at some point during the race. I've been eyeing High Lonesome 100 and am guessing it will be a Hardrock qualifier either for next year or the year after. I'm actually getting pretty excited about that, but I'm going to hold off until 2019. I'm setting the bar pretty high for that race and am going to need more than 6 months to get myself ready for that. So that's the plan...this years goals are to focus on making BIG things happen at High Lonesome in 2019.


That means first off one of my goals this year is to incorporate more strength into my routine. If you know me at all that is as scary as it comes. I do hip exercises and this past year added some very minimal leg strengthening so thinking about overall strengthening is huge. But when you're facing a new category, hello master's running, you need to think about what's going to keep your healthy and moving towards your goals. I have no plans to step into a gym quite yet, but I have bought a medicine ball and a BOSU and have started body weight and resistance type strength training 30-60 min 5x/week. Yeah that's a huge step for me so we'll see if I can keep it up. I also need to get back to more structured running, including speed work. Something I started focusing on for RRR was building my speed for the runnable sections. That made me realize I need to focus on that even more. So this year I'm going to focus more on 50k and 50M races and getting that speed back so its there when I need it.


Aside from gearing up for High Lonesome the one real goal I have for this year is to set a master's course record. I think this is probably more for my mental strength than anything...I want to prove to myself that having a 'masters' label doesn't mean you can't keep setting the bar higher and going for bigger goals and more PRs. Too often we hit a certain age and figure ah well that's the end of it so why try, but that doesn't have to be it. So I'm not sure what race or maybe an FKT I'll be looking at this fall yet, but I'm planning to prove that age doesn't matter with a fast run at something!


We've got a lot of things planned for 2018 and I'm really excited about the opportunities we're making for our little family. Its a good year to focus on building, getting stronger and faster without the pressure of a monster goal that takes away time from the family. I'm excited for where this year will take me and I'm really excited at setting a monster goal for 2019 and pushing myself to get there. Big goals don't happen overnight and it takes time and patience to get yourself ready for them. It will be a good time for some mental training to get myself in the right mindset to make it all happen...all in due time.