Goals for 2011

I made up my goals for 2010 as I went along, so I thought I should make my goals for 2011 in advance. Here they are.

Run 10 miles a day
For the past two years I have averaged 8 and 8.8 miles a day, respectively. I have found that if I run more, I get faster. So I want to run 10 miles a day, or 70 miles a week, on average.

Run every day
I don't see any pressing reason why I should skip running on any particular day. If something urgent comes up, such as debilitating illness, I will reconsider this goal.

Under 17:00 in the 5k, 10:00 in the 3k and 5:00 in the mile
In 2009 I broke 19:00 in the 5k for the first time, and in 2010 I broke 18:00 in the 5k. So in 2011 I would like to break 17:00. 10:00 in the 3k is a goal for winter track. 5:00 in the mile is a dream. You have to have dreams.

Run a NBB Tier 1 time
Since I ran under 10:15 in the 3k on January 2, I have the NBB Tier 2 standard for all of 2011. It would be awesome if I could run a Tier 1 time.

Win a race
Most likely, if I achieve any of my time goals, it will be in a race that I do not win. To run fast times, I must surround myself with people who are faster than me. However, I do like to win races and I would like to do that in 2011.

Win money in a race
What can I say, it's fun to have an envelope full of Benjamins in my sock drawer. However, the more often I race, the slower I will probably be in races, so I have to be choosy about the race schedule. Which brings us to:

Race fewer times than in the past two years
In 2009 I raced 35 times and set 19 PRs at 9 distances. In 2010 I raced 48 times and set 10 PRs at six distances. So maybe if I run fewer races, I will run more PRs. Mathematical analysis of those two (!) data points suggests that I can maximize my performance with about 27 races. That's about the number I was planning to do anyway. I don't plan to make the Red Rooster Ramble series a focus this year, so that will decrease my number of races by at least 10.

Run with lots of different people and have fun
Running with other people is one of the best parts of this sport. I ran with about 100 different people last year, and I think it really added to my enjoyment of running. My favorite part of running is running fast in workouts and races, but my second-favorite part is chatting with other people on a relaxed run.

Late addition: Run 1000 miles with Alan
I had to consult with Alan on this one, because it can't just be my goal; it has to be our goal. And we agree: another 1000 miles in 2011 is our goal. So far we have only run about 60 miles together this year, but I have high hopes that we can accomplish this together once again.