So I’ve been looking at what I’ve accomplished so far this year, and what I’d like to do moving forward for November & December as well as 2014. First off, I have to say how lucky and blessed I am to be able to run as much as I have both in racing and training, my speedy recovery times and the fact that I haven’t burned out. I credit that to becoming more and more goal-oriented as I progress as a runner. 

So for the rest of the year, the only race I’m signed up for is The North Face Endurance Challenge 50-miler in Marin on December 7th. I’m looking at a loose goal of going sub-9 hours, which I’ll reassess the week before the race according to how my training’s been. So far I feel pretty good about that goal, just having gone 9:07 at the Dick Collins Firetrails 50. Yeah, I know there’s another 2000 feet of climbing on top of what I just did in that race but my training is specifically focused for the next 1.5 months on hills, hills and more hills.

So what’s up for November? Well, I’m putting together an “assault manifesto” so to speak on a local FKT, and before I announce my intentions on the FKT-ProBoards site I’ll just hint that it’s a local, iconic trail almost 33 miles in length with probably close to 10,000 feet of climbing. Stay tuned for that, I’ll announce my official intentions around mid-November.

So that’s that for the rest of ‘13, what about 2014? Here goes (my loose list of hopeful and definite):

Goals:

run my first 100k (I’d like to run 2 before my first 100-miler)

run my first 100-miler

go back to the Lake Sonoma 50-miler and seek some redemption for last year’s epic blow-up and subsequent 12+ hour shitfest

Calendar (subject to change):

January – random 50k? maybe a FKT somewhere local?

February – 1^st (Sat) Ordnance 100k, Fort Ord, Monterey

March – 15^th (Sat) Marin Ultra Challenge, Rodeo Beach  (50 miles)

April – 12^th (Sat) Lake Sonoma 50, Healdsburg

May – 4^th (Sat) Miwok 100k, Stinson Beach

OR 17^th (Sat) Born to Run Ultra 100k, Los Olivos

June – 29^th (Sat) Western States 100, Squaw Valley

July – 19^th (Sat) TRT 100, Carson City, NV    

September - ? Pine to Palm 100, Williams, OR

So that’s my loosely-based goal races for 2014. I hope I can stay healthy and win some of those lotteries! Here we go!