I’d like to start by wishing everyone who reads this post a Happy New Year! I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas and New Year. Here’s to a runtastic (sorry I couldn’t resist) and hopefully injury-free 2020.

As, like a lot of runners, I’ve reviewed 2019 in a lot of detail, I think it’s now time for me to look ahead to 2020 and a new decade, and to set some running goals for the New Year.

Like last year, I’m all too aware that people are getting a little fed up with all the New Year’s resolutions and goals for the year type blogs. After failing to achieve the majority of the running goals I set myself this time 12 months ago, I briefly considered not making this post public.

However, as in previous years, by sharing these goals I hope that I make myself a little more accountable. As, a couple of years ago, putting my running goals into writing seemed to make me get off my arse, I decided to publish this post.

 “Don’t be too ambitious with your goals. It’s better to surprise yourself than fail. You can always adjust your goal if you meet it early.”

Listen to my niggles – I’m definitely one of the world’s most injury-prone runners. I’ve said it before, but some runners hardly ever seem to get injured. Other runners like me seem to spend most of the time either injured or recovering from an injury. As I don’t really want to spend another twelve months experiencing running-induced #FOMO, I’m going to continue to listen to and closely monitor my niggles. At the moment, I’d award my right knee 2/10 and my left foot 2/10.

Continue with my strength and conditioning – When I’m able to run pain-free, I’m guilty of neglecting the strength and conditioning routines my physio produced for me a couple of years ago. Although my current injuries are quite literally a pain, they have made me realise I have zero core strength and that I need to work on my strength and conditioning. Now that I’m not spending a fortune on rent, I’m looking at treating myself to membership of one of the many gyms in Four Oaks.

Train sensibly and consistently – This is a repeat goal, but I’m still not very good at running and training consistently. I’m usually so pleased to be injury-free; I’ll end up running 3-4 times a week and end up injuring myself again. When I’m injured, I don’t run at all and fall out of love with running. Once I’ve recovered from my knee niggle, I need to remind myself to build up my mileage slowly.

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At the end of the day, if my knee allows me to train, my aim this year is to complete the Chicago Marathon in October. I’ve just about got enough time to build up my mileage.

Join a running group and run with others more – I’ve set this as a running goal a few times. I don’t want to join a more formal running club, but I do miss running with others. I think for more, slightly less formal running groups are the best option. Last year, I enjoyed some challenging training sessions with the Run Wallingford running group before I got injured. Now that I’m living back in Four Oaks I’ve got a couple of options; SE Fitness and the Boldmere Bullets Running Collective. Volunteering at Sutton Park parkrun has enabled me to meet members of both running groups. I think it’s just a case of doing some research and working out which group organises training sessions I’ll be able to attend when I’m up and running again.

Run 500 miles – Last year, I clearly started the year feeling quite ambitious as I set myself the goal of running 1000km. Injuries and illnesses meant that I ended up running just over 100 miles. This year, I’ve decided to be both sensible and realistic and have set myself the goal of running 500 miles. I can always adjust this goal later on this year. I’ve set my distance target on Fetcheveryone so that I can monitor my progress.

Complete 10 races – I set myself the same goal last year and failed miserably due to illnesses and injuries. However, back in 2018, I don’t want to brag, but I absolutely nailed this running goal. I’ve already entered several races this year, and although I’ll have to DNS some of them, I’m confident I’ll earn at least a couple of running medals this year.

Volunteer at least 10 times at parkrun – I think it’s safe to say that I absolutely smashed this goal last year. In the final six months of 2019, I volunteered on 26 separate occasions and finally became a member of the 25 Club. This year, I want to find a better balance between volunteering and actually taking part in parkrun. I actually started 2020 with a spot of slightly stressful barcode scanning so this goal has got off to a good start.

Become a member of the 50 Club – I can’t remember exactly when I first registered on the parkrun site, but I have parkrun weekly newsletter emails from the beginning of 2010. I completed my first parkrun in May 2013 and my 25^th parkrun in July 2018.  I’ve now completed 34 parkruns so even if I have to walk a few due to injury, I should be able to reach 50 by the end of the year.

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I want to become a member of the 50 Club and have a longer-term goal of becoming a member of the 100 Club in 2022.

Explore more local parkruns and run at Bushy Park – Every Saturday when I volunteer at Sutton Park parkrun, I find myself surrounded by groups of runners who are taking part in a spot of parkrun tourism.  To date, I’ve completed four different parkruns; Didcot, Kingsbury Water Park, Sutton Park, and Walsall Arboretum. This year, I fully intend to visit more West Midlands parkruns including Perry Hall, which is located a smidge over three miles from Sutton Park.

I also want to complete Bushy parkrun in the summer when I’m hopefully injury-free. The local Traveldodge looks reasonably priced and it’s one of the few Running Challenges badges I want to ‘earn’.

Don’t buy any unessential running gear – I set myself the same goal last year and failed miserably. However, a couple of years ago I managed to avoid buying any what I classify as unessential running gear. After being told to switch from Brooks to Hoka trainers, I’m going to have to buy some new trainers ASAP, however, I don’t need to buy anything else.

Complete a Leadership in Running Fitness course – This has been on my running ‘things to do’ list for a long time. Illness meant that I, unfortunately, had to miss a course a couple of years ago. As I don’t have a car, I’ve been looking out for courses in Birmingham, but the so-called second city doesn’t seem to register on England Athletics’ radar. I’ve emailed England Athletics a couple of times to see if there are planning on holding courses in Birmingham but didn’t receive a response. Slightly frustrating.

I know I ask the same question every year, have you set yourself any running goals for the year ahead?

Have you entered any target races?