2020 Running Goals
It’s that time of year when we sign up for gym memberships, restart our meditation practice, and generally resolve to be better. Thank goodness our planet takes 365 days to orbit the sun, because New Years resolutions are exhausting.
Completing goals is exhilarating but setting them can be intimidating. Worse, falling short can leave us feeling like we’re not good enough. I say this as someone who recently set an ambitious multi-year goal. I’d like to make sure this goal, as well as my 2020 running goals, remains a source a joy and not stress.
In “Stillness Is the Key”, Ryan Holiday writes:
We are restless because deep in our hearts we know now that our happiness is found elsewhere and our work, no matter how valuable it is to us or others, cannot take its place. But we hurry on anyways and attend to our business because we need to matter, and we don’t always realize that we already do.
What Ryan says about work is true of all striving. It is invigorating to set and achieve difficult goals, but it’s also important to not tie your self-worth to their outcomes. I’ll need to keep that in mind, as these 2020 running goals are the most aggressive I’ve ever set.
Goal 1: 10k @5:18 pace
My new lifetime goal is to run a marathon at a 5:18 pace. In The-Six-Minute-Project-style, I’m approaching this by conquering the pace, ie running a mile at that pace, then a 5k, 10k, half marathon, and finally a marathon.
I’ve run many miles at 5:18 pace, and recently broke the time in the 5k. This year, I’d like to complete a 10k at 5:18 pace.
In case you’re wondering, that works out to the very memorable time of 32:55.
I’m not sure how challenging this going to be since the closest I’ve come to a 10k in recent years is my annual Turkey Trot. In spite of being only 5 miles, my PR is a 5:26 pace. Cutting nearly 10 seconds per mile off of 10k pace in a year is intimidating, but I think it’s possible since I’m somehow always sick/tired/dressed-like-a-turkey for the Turkey Trot, handicapping my time.
Goal 2: 2:30 Marathon (5:44 pace)
My current marathon personal best is 2:36:33, so a 2:30 marathon would be more than a 6 minute PR. This is the most ambitious annual running goal I’ve set but I think it’s attainable.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the annoying voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that I could have run CIM faster. That asshole’s probably right. I was a tad conservative in the first half of the race and could have focused more during no-man’s land (miles 13–18), where my pace slipped by ~5 seconds per mile.
Combine this with the fact that CIM’s conditions weren’t ideal and I think I have a faster PR in me. 6.5 minutes faster? We’ll see.
Goal 3: 72:00 Half Marathon (5:30 pace)
A 72 minute half marathon is the rough division between my track club’s A Squad and their B Squad (the depth of fast West Valley runners still blows my mind…). I want to be, as my friend Michael says, “one of the big dogs”, and hitting this time would qualify me as a lab at least a border collie, if not a golden retriever.
More importantly, if I hit my goals this year I can roughly estimate my 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon paces at 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, and 5:45, which is easy to remember during workouts.
I went out and ran 4 miles at this pace yesterday and it was exhausting. I don’t expect to be in shape for a 72 at the Kaiser half, which is in 3 weeks. But I think I can get in shape for this in the next 12 months, and would like to run a 5:30 pace half marathon in the lead-up to a marathon.
Reflecting on 2019’s Goals
There’s little value in setting goals if you don’t follow up on them, so let’s go over my 2019 Running Goals.
2019 Goal 1: 4:40 mile
Completed?: No
I decided to drop this goal in September. Running a PR-pace mile would take the place of a marathon workout, and my primary target this year was the marathon.
2019 Goal 2: 1:15:30 Half Marathon (5:45 pace)
Completed: Yes
I nearly hit this target early in the year, with a time of 1:15:43 at the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon. By June, I was much fitter and was able to run a 1:14:07 at the San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon.
2019 Goal 3: 2:37 Marathon (5:59 pace)
Completed: Yes!
This was previously my lifetime running goal, and I achieved it at CIM with a time of 2:36:33.
2019 Goal 4: 50k trail run
Completed: Yes
The Burning Man Ultra was the coolest race I’ve ever run. The course came in a tad short of 50k, but I ran >50k a few weeks later when pacing Ryan Montgomery at the Tahoe 200.
2019 Goal 5: Coach Max and Cliff to run a sub-6 mile
Completed: No
I coached my friends Max and Cliff, but wasn’t able to get either to a sub-6 mile.
I’m glad I went for this one: I became closer with these amazing guys and got my first taste of coaching. In retrospect, it’s unfair to tie my goals to other people’s outcomes. I should’ve instead made the goal be to just coach Max and Cliff.
Good luck with your 2020 resolutions. Remember that “high achievement always takes place within the context of high expectation” (Charles Kettering).
