2020 Running Goals

2020 has been a heck of a year, for personal reasons and for the reasons that we’re all sharing.

With the little man at home, I’m finding that 5-6 hours of training is about all I can budget right now. Keeping that in mind and with my suspicion that all major races are going to be canceled this year, I’m looking to non-race goals to keep me motivated.

Since I turned 40, I’ve had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to run a sub-5 mile, which is something I haven’t done since I was a sophomore in college 23 years ago (I was once a 4:31 1600-meter runner). And, after training with the high school kids this winter, I’ve gotten curious about what I can do in the 800 as well.

Earlier in the year, I posted here that I wanted to run sub-4:50. That might be possible at low elevation, but it ain’t happening in Salida, at 7000 ft. And since there probably isn’t much traveling in my short-term future, and with the new addition in the family, I think a sub-5 goal at 7000 ft. is plenty ambitious.

I'm also curious what I can do in the 800 now. Once upon a time, I broke 2. At this very moment, at 7000 ft, I’d struggle to break 2:30.

Since I haven’t run an 800 in 23 years, it’s hard to know what’s a realistic goal. I feel like sub-2:12 would be a great stretch goal this year, but I’d put the odds on my running that fast at less than 10%. Sub-2:16 seems plausible, if all goes well and I have a good day. Regardless, I’ll work in that direction and see where I get. I’ll say sub-2:12 is the A goal, sub-2:16 is the B goal, and sub-2:20 is the C goal. No extra credit for just finishing an 800.

Either way, 800/1600 strikes me as a great challenge for 2020.

I might jump into the odd small race if such things happen later in the year (Spiral Drive/Creede Mountain Run seem like reasonable candidates), but right now, pure middle distance seems like a fun place to focus my energies. It’s a novel challenge, and if I do it right, it’ll be helpful in putting me in a position to train with the high school kids when that time comes again, and for bigger races when bigger races become a thing again.