Oakland Running Festival 10K (Sunday 3/20). This is a Pacific Association race that some of the other masters women on my team are planning to run, so I'm jumping in! I was originally signed up for the half (deferred from 2020) but I'm dropping down to the 10K to help the team score. My expectations are low -- I ran couple of 10Ks last summer just to kind of see what I could do, but they were both quite slow, in the 50:00 range, so even just under that would be progress. Right before the pandemic I ran a 46:23 on fairly moderate training, so I'd expect that to be about the lower limit of what I could do in Oakland if everything went perfectly.
SACTOWN 10-miler (Sunday 4/3). Another PA race. I'd been thinking I'd stick to mostly short-course stuff this spring as I'm trying to get back into consistent real training, but given how shockingly doable the Kaiser half felt, I thought, what the heck, let's see what we can do with 10 miles. I'm not officially signed up but my 10-mile PR is a quite soft 1:20 so by April it's not impossible that I could beat it if I really tried.
San Jose (40)8K (Sunday 4/24). PA short course race in the South Bay. I'm kind of scared of running a 5K right now (the last two times I've pulled my hamstring, it's been a 5K or speedwork), but 8K is kind of working my way slowly but surely downward, right? 🤣
Stow Lake Stampede 5K (Sunday 5/22). Another PA short course race here in SF. Fingers crossed that I'm over my fear of 5Ks by the end of May! I signed up for this race a few years ago but running was just going terribly by the time it came up so I didn't bother. It's usually quite a deep field so it could be a good chance to get a solid 5K effort in. (Not officially signed up yet.)
Four races seems like plenty to be getting on with in a three-month period!
I'm still thinking about what I want to do later in the year, plus a few weekends are up in the air due to possible international work travel. I'm not feeling the marathon bug right now but I definitely want to run another half marathon or two just to see how I can progress from the Kaiser race a few weeks back. I'm sure I'll also run some other PA races depending on which ones the other women on the team are targetting.
The summer short list:
- 7/4 - Morgan Hill Freedom Fest 5K (PA short course)
- 7/16 - Whine Shine Half Marathon
- 7/24 - Wharf 2 Wharf 6 miles (I'm currently signed up but might be traveling for work, we shall see)
- 8/27 - Alameda 10 Miler
- 8/28 - Across the Bay 12K (PA long course, I'd consider doing it if we had a women's team going, but uuuuggggghhh there is a LONG, BRUTAL uphill to the Golden Gate Bridge at the start of this race and just uuuuggggghhhhh......)
The fall short list:
- 9/10 - Oaktown Half Marathon
- 10/2 - Urban Cow Half Marathon (PA long course)
- 11/13 - Clarksburg Half Marathon (PA long course)
I imagine I will also jump into at least a few cross country races in the fall as well (depending on travel plans).
I don't want to get too precious about time goals for the year because I know I only have so much control over that. My process goals are simple -- keep lifting weights twice a week and running consistently, stay on track with sleep (ie going to bed on time!), & keep my work stress in check. BUT, time goals can be fun to chase as long as you don't get too overly hung up on them. I think after the March 10K, I'll maybe set some time-based "hopes" to shoot for later in the year. Is a sub-1:45 half / sub-47:30 10K too ambitious or too soft to shoot for by the end of 2022? I d!on't know yet! Check back with me on March 21!
In the mean time, I'm going to try adding in a wee bit of speed work this week, so fingers crossed everything goes smoothly. :)
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