After achieving more than I dreamed I could in 2021 with my postpartum running comeback, I am setting myself some more concrete running goals for 2022.
There are so many races and experiences I would love to take part in one day, but for this year I have chosen four goals, one for each season. They don’t all focus on improving my speed, in fact only one of them is a pace related goal, because I don’t want to fall out of love with running by pushing myself too hard for too much of the year.
My spring goal is to complete my first marathon at Brighton Marathon Weekend in April. If you’ve been following me from the start you will know that I originally started this blog to document my training for Paris Marathon in 2020, but life has changed a lot since then, and not just for me but for the world. Although I would have absolutely loved to run Paris this year as my first marathon, it just wasn’t feasible for me economically or practically, having a one year old and living in a pandemic. Paris Marathon remains my ultimate dream, and who knows, maybe I’ll even get a PB there one day! Although I do have a finishing time in mind for Brighton Marathon, as it will be my first attempt at 26.2 miles I will just be so pleased to get round the course together with my running buddy.
During the summer months, I hope that I will reach the milestone of 100 parkruns. I ran my first one of 2022 on New Year’s Day, so I’ve started the year on 73 runs so far. I loved running my 50th parkrun in 2019 (read more about it here) and would love to make my 100th a real celebration run with Max, who has joined me in the buggy since parkrun returned last July. Keep your eyes peeled if you'd like to come and join the party! I can’t wait to add the 100 park runs t-shirt to my collection too.
Towards autumn I’d like to switch my focus to speed work and work on my favourite race distance, the 10k. My goal is to run a sub-50 time. It won’t be easy but I’d love to push myself to new limits and see if I can achieve it. My current post baby PB is 53:43 (Run Bournemouth October 2021) and my lifetime PB is 52:27 (Poole Festival Of Running June 2019). I have really enjoyed doing a variety of interval and fartlek training since returning to running last year and this focus will give me more chance to really give purpose to these high effort sessions.
By the winter, for my final goal of the year, I’d love to run 1000 miles in 2022. I was so proud of the 822 miles I ran in 2021 and having this goal will be a great motivator to keep running consistently even if I’m not focusing on a particular pace or race goal. Running isn’t just about chasing personal bests, it’s about getting out for adventures with my little running buddy, it’s for clearing my head when life feels stressful and it’s for taking time in the week to do something for myself and set an active example to my son.
I’m sure that throughout the year I will sign up to a few more races and challenges along the way, but I have chosen these goals to reflect the different aspects of running that I enjoy and want to push myself in, without taking on so much that it becomes a chore. I’d love to know your running goals for this year too.
To read my previous blog posts about my postpartum running journey, click here. Or if you want to know more about my recent races, click here.
Don’t forget to subscribe to be the first to know about any news and updates, just enter your email address at the bottom of the page. Thanks!
Comments