I know, I know, a list. If I don’t actually set goals, I’m not gonna meet them and one begins meeting his goals by first writing them down. So there. I am going to do this crap next year, but start training for it all now cause I’m old and it’s gonna take awhile.

1. Run a full marathon. This is pretty much cemented at the top of this list. Be it Chicago or one of the suburban ones, I’m going to run a full marathon in 2015. I’m not setting a goal time but will do my best to train well so I don’t just do the whole “I did it” thing when I didn’t really do it at all. No, I’m not gonna cget a 26.2 sticker for the back of my car afterward.

2. Run a sub two hour half. I’m pretty sure that if I didn’t have a crappy training season that I might have actually come close to doing this in 2014 but alas, nein.

3. Run a 6:30 mile. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

4. Ride a half century. I’m setting myself up for something in 2016, Ironman Steelhead. Doing a half century will at least give me an idea whether or not part of a tri is even possible. I’m positive I can swim 1.2 miles but of course will cross that brideg when I’m fully training for it.

5. Run a 1,000 miles. I’ve never really tracked my runs faithfully or kept to a rigorous training schedule in preparation for anything big and if I intend to do any of the above without seriously hurting myself it’s about damn time I set some goals.

6. (bonus) Do more weight training. Whether this is body weight excercises or actualy weights or resistance bands and such it needs to be done more. I’m getting older and things aren’t as strong as they used to be. Actually, this isn’t a bonus one, consider it a solid number six on the list. In fact, it should probably be up at about number three.

I’m pretty sure I could stretch this list and come up with ten goals but in the end it’d probably be five good ones and five fluff that I probably wouldn’t meet anyway. 2014 was kind of a bust for me really, I had a few injuries and didn’t run my first half anywhere near as well as I wanted to, mostly due to an injury during the race which I’m sure came from insufficient training. This year’s running season serves primarily as a reminder that this shit ain’t easy and needs to be taken seriously, especially at my age. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.