2015 goals revisited

I did terribly on my 2015 goals, but I'm at peace with it.  Looking back, I realize that a lot of them were just kind of thrown against the wall to see which ones would stick, which may not be the most efficient way to set goals.  I'm not even sure I'm going to set any goals for 2016 other than transferring a few from this list onto next year.

So let's take a look back:

1. Run 2,015 miles: Completed.  This was probably my biggest goal of the year and one I focused on the most.  I'll have to tally up the entire year's total and put it in a future post.

2. Run the Boston Marathon: Completed. As I mentioned in my post setting up my 2015 goals, this was more of a life goal that just happened to fall this year.

3. Run a 50 miler: Uncompleted.  I think the intention here was to combine a fall 50 miler with my next goal, but it's clear I bit off more than I could chew.  I still want to run a 50 miler someday; I think the experience of running so long through the woods would be very spiritual, but I would probably have to make this the main goal in a given year and not thrown in with a bunch of other goals.

4. Run across the state of NJ: Uncompleted.  For awhile I planned to do this in December after completing the Philadelphia Marathon since my mileage and endurance would already be high, but I wanted to make sure I gave my shin time to properly heal, so I ended up drastically reducing my mileage right after the marathon.

5. PR my beer mile time: Uncompleted.  This one should have been easy, but I just never got around to doing a beer mile this year.  They're tricky, though, seeing as they aren't exactly legal, in the strictest sense of the term.

6. PR my half marathon time: Completed.  Ran a 1:26:05 at the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia half Marathon on Halloween.  It was a very zen race in that all the planets aligned for a perfect race in which everything felt effortless.

7. Run a sub 3:00 marathon: Uncompleted.  Sigh... this one still stings.  I spent all fall waking up at 4am to train like a madman and gave it my all at the Philadelphia Marathon in November, but came up short by just over a minute.

8. Continue to make running friends, both in my immediate community as well as online: Completed.  This one is a bit of grey area.  I definitely continued to hang out with my Wednesday night running/beer crew, and made more of an effort to connect with other runners online, but let's just say I'm becoming a bit disillusioned with the running blogosphere and its attendant social media nonsense... Perhaps a topic for another post.

9. Continue the run streak through 2015: Completed.  Can't stop won't stop.  Over two years and counting now.

10. Run more trail races: Uncompleted. I only ran one trail race this year, and that's the one I do every year (Wissahickon Trail Classic).  The problem is, to get to any trail races requires a lengthy drive, which I'm not always willing to do, especially for a race that I've never done and can't be sure I'll enjoy.

11. Run a Spartan Race: Uncompleted.  I was signed up for the Spartan Race just before the Philly Marathon but backed out due to my shin.  Fortunately I had gotten free entry from the Spartan PR team so I didn't lose any money on that one.

Non-running:

1. Publish a piece of writing: Uncompleted.  Someday...

2. Travel to a country and/or state I've never been to before: Uncompleted.  Plenty of time, but never enough money.

3. Continue to spend time with Stevie and Neale: Completed.  Another grey area.  We spent a lot of time together over the summer when I wasn't working, but in the fall, between my teaching job and my running, and Stevie's two plays, quality time was sparse.  This is one reason I'm not going to do a marathon in 2016 and Stevie doesn't have any upcoming shows.


And there you have it.  5 out of 11 goals on my running list and 1 out of 3 on the non-running list.  If I do set any goals for 2016, it will probably be a smaller list.

How did you do on your goals?