2013 Running Goals

To keep myself accountable, I am posting my 2013 Running Goals here.


Here are my current PRs for shorter distances (as an adult - not counting those "slow" times in high school that I would kill for now):

5K, 32:14
10K, 1:05

Here are my goals for 2013:

5K, 29:59
10K, 59:59


As some background, I ran track and cross-country in high school and was never very fast (but would kill for those times now!). I then didn't run at all (like, not one.single.step) until I turned 30 and started doing a Couch-to-5k plan to do a local 5k race in Florida. When we moved to Manhattan, I entered the Kansas City half marathon as a speed walker and LOVED IT. But I decided that if my goal was to get faster, then I should actually try to jog in that distance (or maybe even run??).

So ever since October 2010, I have been slowly jogging along. And along the way, I discovered that I actually DID love running, especially with a partner. (Side note: Those of you who know my sister Julie know that she is a Super Awesome Runner. I am so thankful that she is always willing to run with me during the week and never says anything about my slow pace!). Having walked the half marathon, my first goal was to run a half marathon. I ran (slowly) the Hospital Hill half in June 2011, the KC half in October 2011, and was training for a full marathon in November 2011.

In hindsight, deciding to move so quickly to a full marathon was a huge mistake because I ended up injured and not able to run for months. In 2012, I was finally able to run consistently by the summer, but the longest races I have entered as a runner since being injured have been 5Ks (I did walk the Rock the Parkway half in April and the Wichita half in October 2012 where I set a PR for me as a walker, but not quite the same as running it!).

My original goals for 2013 were to run three half marathons - the Eisenhower half in April, Hospital Hill in June, and the Kansas City or Wichita half in October. But I had an epiphany yesterday - maybe I should try to get faster at the shorter distances and THEN move on the to longer races?? I think in my rush to try to run the long distances that I have been walking, I have been really negligent in building up speed at shorter distances.

My plan is to incorporate more speed work into running instead of just having all long, slow, easy miles. Julie and I are going to do strides tomorrow morning as the first venture into that. So bring on 2013! I am ready to smash these records and get faster.