Goal 1: Run 5000km across the year
Every year I like to have an overall mileage goal, an overarching target for the
year as a whole. In 2023 that was 2500 miles, which I achieved on December 7th,
eventually finishing on 2696 miles. I’m delighted with that amount, but am also
conscious that I spent four months with lower mileage due to injury/illness. I
therefore see some room for improvement, and have increased my sights to 3107
miles, or the equivalent much neater 5000km. It did occur to me today that
that’s 1000 parkruns within a year, but let’s not dwell on that!
Goal 2: Achieve
a sub 3-hour marathon at Brighton
On April 7th I will be racing the Brighton
Marathon, my 3rd official marathon and my first in almost 18 months. Going below
the three-hour mark has always been a target of mine, and now has the added
significance of potentially providing a Good For Age qualification spot for
London in 2025! My previous best is 3:17:28 from York in 2022, so I’m asking
myself to make a big step to hit my target. But I’m much fitter than I was back
then, and I’ve learned from that experience, so I’m feeling cautiously
optimistic about my chances. As I’ve read elsewhere over the last few days, if a
goal doesn’t make you nervous, you’re not aiming high enough – well I’ve
certainly aimed high enough here!
Goal 3: Run a sub 17-minute 5km
If the sub-3
marathon is going to require a big improvement in my personal best, a sub-17 5km
is at first glance a much easier bar to clear. My current best, from Hull parkrun last November,
is 17:03, so only a few seconds are required. However, with my focus this year being on races that are marathon
distance or beyond, my training isn’t going to be specifically working towards a
faster 5km time. There will be some track sessions and regular speedwork, but
whether it will be enough to see a new parkrun PB, only time will tell.
Goal 4:
Race at Endure24
After a lovely but cold Sunday long run last autumn, my friend
Bianca and I went to Costa for a hot chocolate to warm up. By the time we’d
left, we’d agree to enter Endure24 together, and Team Clown had been formed! For those
who don’t know, Endure24 is a 24-hour race that takes part in Leeds (or Reading)
each year. It’s a simple format – whoever does the most laps of the 5-mile
circuit within the 24 hours wins. You can take part individually or in teams of
up to 12, and we’ll be competing in the mixed pair category, so essentially one
of us will be running at all times, with the other person resting. It’s hard to
set a specific performance goal when racing in a team, as you don’t know how the
other people around you will do, and I don’t think it’s fair to set your targets
on them. But, personally, I’d like to run at least 100km (13 laps) during the
event, and looking at past performances I think we have a reasonable chance at
getting a podium in our category.
Goal 5: Run 7 marathons in 7 days
This has
been a goal of mine for a few years, and is the result of reading too many books
by incredible adventurers such as Nick Butter and Jenny Tough. I’m determined
that this year will be the year I go for this, and tentatively (work and life
allowing) I’m aiming to start on July 12th, so that the final day would be my
birthday – 26 miles for my 26th birthday! I know that this would probably be my
toughest running challenge so far, but if the people I read about can do it, why
can’t I?
Goal 6: Reach the 100-parkrun milestone
Since moving to Hull at the
start of 2022, parkrun has become a much bigger part of my routine, with it
being very rare that I’m not in some way involved on a Saturday morning.
Starting 2024 I’ve run 63 parkruns, so I’d like to hit my 100 milestone by the
end of the year if possible. However, if I don’t hit this due to volunteering
commitments I won’t be too disappointed – I’ll get there eventually! As for
volunteering, I started the year 134 credits away from the next milestone, so
that will be something for 2025!
Goal 7: Enjoy running!
There are a lot of
numbers and performance targets in this post, but what is most important to me
is simply to enjoy my running. Last year I became much more social with my
running, and this year I hope to continue training with friends where possible.
I want to visit new places, run new routes, and continue to experience the
mental peace that I get on a good run. It would be better if this was the only
goal I achieved, than if I achieved all the others but not this one. At the end
of the day, running isn’t my job, it’s something I do for fun, and so that fun
is the priority!
Conclusion: So there you have my 7 main running goals for 2024.
I’ll look forward to seeing what I can achieve, and reflecting on this post at
the end of the year. If you’d keep track of my progress, follow me on Instagram
@andrewhamblenruns, or on Strava. And please let me know what your running (or
other) goals for 2024 are.
