Year-End Goal Review

I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately, Peeps.  The weather has been so nice that I've been able to run in the sunshine most days during my Christmas break from school.  One day I even ran in a t-shirt and capris!  During those runs, I've had lots of time to think about what I've been able to accomplish this year and where I fell short.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I am reflecting on my goals.

Let me first say that I feel very, very lucky that I was able to run this year, considering my foot never really healed from the Horrible Nut Incident.  I still have an attitude of gratitude, so don't get mad at me if I gripe a little, too.

2014 Goals:

1.  Run 1,000 miles.  I did it!!!!!  Yay for me!

2.  Run a sub-2 hour half marathon.  Nope.  2:00:52, darn it.  Read about that experience here.

3.  Blog for races.  Nailed it!  I'm so happy about this goal.  This year I was part of Team Panera for the Akron Marathon, I was a guest blogger for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, and I was a Hot Chocolate Ambassador.  These were fabulous experiences--thank you to my sponsors!

Team Panera, Baby!

4.  Destination race.  Hot Chocolate 15k--Columbus.  Sooo much fun!  Click here to read about it.

Awesome Hot Chocolate swag!

Other than those four goals, I have one more little year-end wrap up to do: pay myself.  I will write about this next week.

Here are my goals for next year:

1.  Run at least 1,100 miles.

2.  Sub-2 hour half marathon:  Akron, I'm looking at you!

3.  Race blogging:  I'm hoping to be back for Akron and the C-bus Hot Chocolate.  I'd like to thank Cleveland Rite Aid Marathon for choosing me as a race ambassador for 2015!  My efforts to arrange an official blogging position with the Medina Half Marathon and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Marathon were not successful last year, but I'm not giving up!  Hey, guys, guys, LOOK AT ME!!!

4.  Extend my longest run to at least 15 miles.  I know this sounds kind of dumb considering I can race 13.1 miles, but we all know that the mental blocks are the hardest to overcome.  I am thinking about signing up for a 30k trail race, but I would have to do the hard training in winter, and honestly, I'm not up for wading streams in the winter, especially if the Polar Vortex kicks in again this year.  So, I'm going to try to increase my mileage on the long run, and I'm going to SLOW DOWN to get there. I'm not ready to put in the time and hard work to run a full marathon until I can run the half in the time I want, so this will be a nice side goal for me.

Peeps, it has been a fabulous year.  Thank you so much for accompanying me on this journey; you make the hard runs easier and the gloomy days brighter.  I am a lucky runner.

I love you, Man.

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