I'm not really into this kind of thing. I don't do New Year's Resolutions and I seem to have managed without making too many daft commitments at this time of the year up until now. January is dark, cold and miserable. Why would you want to give up something you enjoy or start doing something you don't enjoy now? As you might imagine, the gym was really busy as I arrived to go running, and almost everyone looked bloody miserable about it too. Why not wait until it's warmer and a bit less depressing? These cards are basically a form of running New Year's Resolution, albeit most of the bumper number of attendees at the first evening running session of the NewYear - maybe twice what we were getting during December - looked a little bit happier on average than the gym bunnies trudging into the building.
Most of the other cards I saw being filled out were either commitments from people determined to run 5km without stopping all the way through to the other end of the spectrum with people wanting to run marathons. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to run another half marathon, never mind a full. I don't currently dare run much over 6 miles for fear of hurting myself again. If I learnt anything at all last year, it was that I'd much rather be able to run 3 miles than no miles at all. My half marathon personal best of 1:51:59 isn't under much threat just at the moment.
I had a little think though and decided that I would put something down. I wrote that I was going to keep running no matter how I felt physically and no matter what the weather throws at me. I'm damned if I'm going to give this up easily. My body has started to seem a bit fragile over the last twelve months, but I'll not go down without a fight.
After a little more thought, I also put down that I'd like to run 700 miles throughout the whole year. This number wasn't entirely plucked out of thin air: my Runkeeper stats told me that I covered 471 miles last year (that's about 50 miles a month with a big drop off between March and July because of my injury problems). In 2012, I did better, managing 667 miles (with a peak of 83 miles in August in the run up to the Robin Hood). I'm not sure I'll scale those heights again as I'm no longer sure that my body is capable of it, but I reckon 600 miles is a reasonable target and 700 isn't entirely out of the question. Who knows? Maybe I will enter some races after all. I should be able to manage the odd 10km.
All sorts of things could happen in the next twelve months, but it feels good to have a goal.
And yes. I am aware that perhaps this is a manifestation of some kind of mental illness.
*shrugs*
Could be worse, right?
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