Mid-Year Check-in for 2015 Running Objectives

At the beginning of the year I posted about my 2014 running accomplishments and my 2015 objectives. The year is more than half over. It's time to check in to see how I'm doing against my plan.

2015 Running Objectives
  • Objective: Qualify for the Marathon Globetrotters in January at the Marathon Bahamas, after finishing a marathon in my 5th country. I also plan to run the Berlin Marathon in September, taking my country total up to 6, and my World Marathon Major total up to 2 out of 6. 
  • August 2015 Status: I qualified for the club (blog post here) and I've gotten involved with club operations (layout of the newsletter). I have not added any new countries since Bahamas, but I'm still on target for Berlin and also the Jersey Marathon this fall.
  • Objective: Complete my 50th marathon state in May at the Newport Marathon in Oregon. In order to do that, I'll need to first finish the New Jersey Marathon in April.
  • August 2015 Status: I did it! I posted my New Jersey Marathon race report here, my Newport Marathon race report here, and I was even featured in a Run Haven article about doing marathons in all 50 states.
My 50 States finisher trophy! (Great pic by Scot)
  • Objective: Train to set a new PR at my 50th state finish in Oregon. My current PR is more than two years old, set at the 2012 Grandma's Marathon. Since then, I've increased my quantity of marathons at the expense of quality. The first half of 2015 will be spent working on quality.
  • August 2015 Status: Well, this one didn't happen. I did not train well enough to go for a PR this spring. And I won't be fast enough to PR at any of my fall marathons either. I'll have to think about a PR goal for 2016.
  • Objective: Apply for the lotteries for 3 of the World Marathon Majors that I still need: New York City 2015, London 2016, Tokyo 2016, and hope to get in. (The remaining major is Boston, and I currently have no plans for Boston.)
  • August 2015 Status: I applied for all three lotteries. I did not get into New York. I'm waiting to learn the status of my lottery entries for London and Tokyo. I should hear about both in September. 
  • Objective: Run fewer marathons. This will allow me to focus more on the training, and will also save travel time and expenses. I love to travel, but it's time to scale back for a while.
  • August 2015 Status: This objective is going well. I've only run 3 marathons so far this year. Contrast that with the last few years when it may have been 3 marathons a month. And for this fall, I have 4 more marathons planned (one is taking the place of a 20 mile training run). That will be a total of 7 marathons in 2015 if all goes to plan. (My marathon total for 2012 was 17, for 2013 was 23 and for 2014 was 18.)
I'm fairly happy with the way 2015 has been going. I do wish I had pushed myself harder with training in the first half of the year, but I'm doing better so far in the second half of the year. It's definitely nice (and necessary) to be spending less on travel.

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