Ok, technically we’re already three weeks into 2014, but you catch my drift — I have some running goals for this year and  I want to share them with you!

Actually, I’ve already kicked off January with a 10K race (finished in 59:35) at the beginning of the month in Bremen’s Bürgerpark — as a part of the city’s Winter Running Series, followed by a 15K in February and a 20K in March.  So far having these races on my schedule has been the perfect motivation to keep me running through the dark, winter mornings and evenings.

I don’t have a long history of 15K and 20K races weighing me down either — my last 15K race was exactly 10 years ago and I’ve never raced a 20K before — so although I’ll be using my experience with half marathons to guide me, I get to conquer some new running territory!  My goal is to run both remaining races with a strong pace, hopefully faster than my best overall half marathon pace (10:13).

Training for a progressively longer race each month has been awesome so far.  Instead of having one long 12-week training cycle where it’s easy to lose motivation and get bored, I have three shorter ones and then the immediate gratification of seeing whether the build up has paid off each month.  Up until now, we’ve lucked out and have had such a mild winter (thanks, Polar Vortex!) that I just pulled out my running gloves for the first time last week.

If everything goes well and I feel strong after all three races, I’m thinking about signing up for an April half marathon, just to keep the momentum going.  At the moment, the Cuxhaven half marathon is on my radar since it’s only a quick train ride away from Bremen and the timing is right.  After that, my running goals are wide open, so let’s see where these next few months take me!

Are you in the midst of training for a race?  What are your fitness goals for the new year?