New Year's Running Resolutions: Mid Year Review

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about what I hoped to accomplish running wise in 2012 (you can see that article here). Now that we're midway through the year, I thought I was a good time to see how I was doing and figure out the plan for the second half of the year.

1. Participate in 12 organized runs of at least 5K
So far I've participated in 4 (all 10Ks): Folsom Super Bowl Run, Folsom Shamrock Run, Folsom Run With Nature, and Run 4 Independence. I additionally had signed up for the Sacramento Zoo Zoom, but I was sick that weekend and passed on participating. Getting 8 more events in this year may not happen. To help out with my planning, I've create a program that pulls race information from a few sites that I check, compiles that information, and then I publish it to the Runs I'm Considering page of this blog.

I've signed up for the Folsom Firecracker 10K and plan to sign up for the runs that I did last year (except the Banding Together for PARTY run that isn't scheduled for this year). That would get me to 9 events. I'm thinking I might do the Making the Grade/Run for Education 10K and Run Because You Can 10K. Part of that will depend on when (if?) Intel holds their Great Place to Work 5K. I currently don't have anything planned for July and August after the Firecracker run, so finding a race that fits in that time frame would be good.

2. Lower my 5K Personal Record to below 27 minutes
I haven't ran a 5K yet, so this one is still pending. I only have one 5K planned (although if I do pick up a race in July/August, it's looking like it'll be a 5K), so I'm not sure this one will happen. 27 minutes will be my target for any 5Ks I do take on.

Set/Lower my 10K Personal Record to below 62 minutes
Done! Three of my four 10Ks have been better than 62 minutes with only the extremely hilly and hot Run with Nature time coming above that. For the second half of the year, I'd like to break my personal record (58:48) once again.

4. Increase my "Pace Record" at two or more events
I haven't repeated any events yet (since all of the events I ran last year were in the second half). I'll have only 5 chances, and if I focus on 10Ks, my only real opportunities will be the Folsom Firecracker, Intel GPTW Fun Run 5K (since it's a 5K only), and the Jingle Bell Rock'n Run. I still have hope to make this one.