Sunday, December 24, 2017

End of 2017 Musings

  • Decent year of running for me. Will finish with just over 2800 miles. That’s the highest mileage I’ve done since 2011, and the second highest mileage year I’ve had since my freshman year of college. And though I don't track it, I've never had a year with more up and down.
  • Good year of running, but a crap year for racing. I ran four races. One was decent (Imogene). Ran five miles off course in another (Creede). Got sidetracked and swam in a lake in a third (Crested Butte). And the Run Through Time in Salida was bad enough where I’d rather pretend it wasn’t a race.
  • On a brighter note, the move to Salida has exceeded all expectations. It’s just a super fun place to live. I expect to stay here permanently. My wife and I will be looking to buy a place here soon.
  • I turned 40 this year!
  • I have two racing goals in 2018. One, have fun racing as a master. Two, run a sub-17:30 5k. The first should be easy enough. The second will be a real challenge, as I’m nowhere near that level of fitness right now.
  • I still plan to run mountain trail races this year; I'm just sticking to half marathons and shorter. I had fun at Grin & Bear It and Creede (despite getting lost), so I’ll probably go back there. Other “maybe” races include the Fibark races in Salida, the Run Through Time Half here, the Hardscrabble race put on by Hal Walters in Westcliffe, the Black Canyon 10k, the Sleeping Indian Hill Climb, the Lead King Loop, and the Moab Trail Half. Half of those races and a few 5ks would make for a good year.
  • Since I’m 40 now, I might also hop into a road marathon just to get a qualifier for 2019. My BQ time is 3:15 now, which seems doable even without much specific training. Judging by those running equivalency calculators, if I’m anywhere near 17:30 fitness, I should be able to do a flat road marathon in under 3:10 without straining too much.
  • The 16-year-old version of me would have found this very hard to fathom, but the challenge of running almost as fast as I used to as a teenager is way more intimidating to me right now than the challenge of running more 100s. I am about 80% certain I could train for a year and get another buckle at Leadville, maybe even the big one. And I’m 80% certain I could slog through some Hardrock qualifier. 
  • But, can I run a 17:2X, with even a year of training to pull it off? Right now, I reckon that there’s an 80% chance that I’ll fail with this goal. Which makes me think that it's a good goal.
  • I know a lot more 40-plus-year-olds who can run 100 miles than ones who can run a sub-17:30 5k. So yeah, I think the 5k goal is harder.
  • This is not the first time I have talked about a moderately ambitious 5K goals on this site, and I didn’t even come close last time. So yeah, for now, it's all hat and no cowboy. 
  • That's all for now. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all those reading. And best wishes for a Happy New Year!

5 comments:

  1. 5k's are no joke, despite ultrarunners rolling their eyes when you mention that distance. I've failed miserably at them recently but I'll keep trying.

    I'll be shooting for 3:14:59 at Colfax if you want to come join me. Post race beers at Sancho's on me.

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    1. You're faster than I am now. I'm doing 30-second strides at 5:45 pace now and I can barely manage that unless it's downhill.

      I was thinking ADT or St. George for the marathon. I got 3 tattoos on Colfax when I was 18, but it doesn't strike me as a great place to run a marathon.

      Did you hear PT Woods is now the mayor of Salida?

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    2. I had one of his signs on my lawn during election season. He owes me some political favors now!

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  2. Congrats on turning 40! Glad to hear you're enjoying Salida...hope to see you there in March, if not sooner.
    I hope to be mostly on trails with vert, but LMK if you are in the Front Range for a 5k or marathon. I'll look for a BQ in Fort Collins in May, so as to be able to run Boston 2019 on my 40th bday(!), and would love if you were in Boston as well. Cheers!

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  3. Yeah - look forward to seeing you at RTT. The president of the local running club took the race over, so it should be a good event this year.

    I'll shoot you an email when I plan to be on the Front Range. And Boston 2019 sounds awesome. Would be nice to try to get a good one in when/if I'm actually in decent shape.

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