As they say what is measured is managed. Among other things I track on the financial independence journey is my running. Each year TheFrugalDoctor endeavours to run farther than the previous year. I took up running seriously in 2017 when I made my sea-change to the quaint seaside town I live in.
The last few years it has been a mad dash to try and beat the goal from the previous year. I am yet to get to 1000 km in a year. So what have been the excuses so far this year? Had family visiting from TheMotherland for 3 months, got married. We have been scuba diving more and surfing. We have been traveling. I did not take my runners for our honeymoon in the Maldives as was scuba diving and surfing. I did take my runners with me to Vanuatu. I managed to go for one run. I was glad to have made it for a run in the tropics the humidity and heat was a challenge.
| Year | Kilometres ran (km) |
| 2015 | 5.4 |
| 2016 | 20.5 |
| 2017 | 503.4 |
| 2018 | 728.3 |
| 2019 | 749.5 |
| 2020 | 749.6 |
| 2021 | 752.6 |
| 2022 | 759.2 |
| 2023 | 761.7 |
| 2024 | 455.5 (need to run at least 306.5 km in 66 days = 4.64 km/day) |
So how am I going to meet the target? I have signed up for my first marathon. This will be on 16th of February 2025. I was going to wait till I was 42 but have brought this forward. I have always said I want to run a marathon for my 40th I am 40 now. I was pushing it back to 42 as another way of procrastinating. I love to run but do not like to think about nutrition and hydration that goes with longer endurance training. By training for the marathon I should be capable of running the 306.5 km before this year ends. I have a half marathon race coming up on November 3. I have been keeping up with my training over the last month. I have no excuse as I only work three days each week. My running days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Last week, I moved the long run to Thursday. We were visiting family and going scuba diving 3 hours from home. The long run was on Thursday this week. We will be an hour from home celebrating a milestone for TheHandsomeSurfer. I have packed my running shoes will run this Saturday morning for another perfect running week.
Oddly I am loving moving the long run to Thursdays. It’s nice to run when there are not as many people about. This will now be my new long run day now that the long run distances are ramping up. That way TheHandsomeSurfer & I can enjoy some quality weekend time together. This week the long run was 19km next week it’s 23km. I have signed up for a half marathon next weekend. Will I run for another 2km after I cross the half marathon finish line? It will be a hilly course. This will be the first time back on that course after the run walk struggle in 2022. I will be running my own race.
So over the next few weeks I will endeavour to complete all three workouts on the marathon training plan. I will run farther this year than the prior year. I will run with my thoughts as usual. I enjoy running with no music or podcasts. I will be present, I will run and enjoy the runners high!
Update: Goal for 2024 was met despite some challenges with plantar fasciitis total kilometres were 766.4 km
This is such an awesome goal! Running is very mentally and physically challenging. I look forward to hearing your progress!
Yes will be sure to update on the progress. I am making sure I rest on my rest days so I don’t get any injuries. I should be able to meet the goal I almost gave up in September and said I shouldn’t bother but I didn’t want to break the streak. I’m competitive with myself lol 😂
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