Goals For the Second-Half of 2011

I started thinking about this the other day.  What are my running goals for the immediate future?  While I know this is a work-in-progress, I also think it important to have some tangible objectives toward which to work.  I've been doing this running thing so sporadically, so without direction for the last four or five years.  Not having any real, written-down, feasible, thought-out goals contributes to the apathy and inconsistency.  If I have something there in front of me, something I can work toward, something that will be challenging, but also realistic, then perhaps I will be more inclined, more motivated to do something about it.  That said, here are some of the goals I have been contemplating.  This is a preliminary list, perhaps to be added to at a later date, but consisting of goals I believe to be relevant and achievable.

1.  I would like to run a 50k by the end of the year.  I've had my eyes on the Devil Mountain Ultra 50K in Pagosa Springs on October 1.  While certainly feasible, my one concern is that it is the week before Silent Trails.  I'm not sure I want to potentially wreck myself on my first 50k the week before a race that is important to me.

2.  I would like to run a sub-five minute mile by the end of the summer.  The last time I ran under five was at the Robert Shine Indoor meet here in Laramie in February, 2008.  I clocked a 4:46.6 on the indoor track.  And that is a difficult track on which to run fast; it's 10-laps to the mile, it's nearly a circle (all turns), and it's at 7200ft.  Comparatively, the 2010 NCAA indoor qualifying standards at the Air Force Academy (similar elevation to Laramie) were giving over nine seconds worth of elevation conversion on mile times.  That puts my 4:46 in the 4:37 range at sea level.  Not bad considering I had not been training for the mile.  Of course, I have not seen that kind of time since (especially considering I have not run a straight, flat-out mile since).  I would like to do that again.  I don't think I'll see 4:37 or even 4:46, but I'd take a high 4:50's right now.  I will try to do that end of August, beginning of September.

3.  I would like to run sub-17 for 5k by the end of the year.  This one should not be too difficult.  I just ran 17:29 at Superday last month and feel that with a little more speed/pace work (which I've been doing with Dr. Dan) and a faster course, I should be able to do this with no problem.  However, in order to throw some humility in there, I haven't run a sub-17 since 2008.  It may not be as easy as I think.

4.  I would like to show up to Jelm Mountain and Silent Trails in shape and ready to go.  Believe it or not, I have never run these two races feeling like I was in any kind of shape.  I have won both in the past, but a lot of it was contributed to not having any big names show up (beside Jason Delaney, who gifted me Silent Trails in 2008), and that I somehow prolonged my college fitness for a couple of years after college.  These races have become increasingly competitive over the last couple of years, while my fitness has become less and less.  I'm tired of getting my butt-kicked in races on my home-turf.  Time to actually prepare for them.

While these goals may not completely reflect my overall goal of becoming more of an ultramarathon/trail-racing runner, I do miss some of the shorter races from time to time.  No reason I can't do all of them at once!