A new calendar, with 365 days of possibilities! A new year can be invigorating – a chance to begin something new, make plans and attack goals with an excitement that people rarely experience mid-year. There is just something about a blank slate that is the coming year ahead that brings people around to self-reflection and evaluation, trying to decide what they want from life and how they will define the next 12 months – and in a sense, be defined by those same 12 months in their memories. As a runner, I love imagining what I want out of my running efforts all the time, but especially when I am looking at the new calendar. How do I want my next year of running to shape up? What will it look like? What goals should I chase?

I missed doing this post last year, but with life happening all around me, I honestly didn’t know what things would look like for 2018 from a running standpoint. It honestly wasn’t that important in the scheme of things. In fact, my husband and I did cancel our trip to South Africa in June 2018 (and the Big Five Marathon, which I registered for in September 2017), as we didn’t want to be so far from my mom and risk something happening to her while we were away. Somehow, I still managed eight marathons – two of which were last minute decisions (Baltimore and Cayman), and I added six new places to my marathon experiences: Houston (Texas, January 2018), Bataan Memorial Death March (New Mexico, March 2018), Bungay and Brighton (UK, April 2018), Loch Ness (Inverness, Scotland, September 2018), Baltimore (Maryland, October 2018), Philadelphia (November 2018) and Cayman Islands (December 2018). My training throughout the year was inconsistent, and I’m amazed at how well I did at pretty much every race, including a 4:09 in Brighton, my second fastest marathon time ever.

Sometimes, you just have a great run when everything clicks.

(Image: Albatross Adventure Marathons; https://big-five-marathon.com)

Now I’m back – at least a little bit – with my planning and desire to ‘run the world’ when and where possible in 2019. My calendar isn’t very full to look at it, but I think after the last year, I’m ready for a little break! So knowing that my body and mind might need a little extra rest in 2019, here is what I am currently looking at as my racing schedule:

March: Barcelona Marathon (Spain) and Wrexham Marathon (Wales)

June: Big Five Marathon (South Africa)

September: Budapest Marathon (Hungary) – about 90% sure about this one

November: either Madison Marathon (Wisconsin) or Tulsa Route 66 Marathon (Oklahoma)

I may add more to the list – or I may take one or two off, as the only ones that are confirmed are in March and June at this point. But wherever I go and whatever I end up running, I will enjoy each race as a unique and special opportunity to see the world and all there is outside of my little island home.

And maybe, just maybe, if I can find a rhythm with my training, I may be gunning for a 4-hr run. Hitting a 4:09 in Brighton (just a week after the Bungay marathon and not having trained for it as I normally would have) reignited the belief that I may have that type of a run in me still! Let me see how things shape up over the next couple months – I just might be running down the clock for a new PR in the coming year.

What races are on your 2019 calendar? What running goals are you setting for yourself? Will I see you out there somewhere? Please let me know if we may be running a course together!