[Author’s Note: This article is part of an occasional series on the unique opportunities and challenges of growing older as a runner.]
Back on New Year’s Eve 2023, I had the opportunity, for the first time in many years, to participate in an Arizona Classic — the Across the Years multi-day running event. As it was my first time running in a while, I chose to sign up for the 24-hour run, beginning at 9 a.m. on December 31, and finishing at 9 a.m. on January 1. I set as my goal to run 15 miles on the morning of December 31, and another 15 miles on the morning of January 1.
As is so often the case for people at the end of a year, I spent the majority of my running time reflecting on the year behind me and looking ahead to the one in front of me. The past year, 2023, had been a monumental year for me. Among other things, I had both of my hips replaced, and I left my career in education after more than 32 years. So, not surprisingly, as I looked ahead to 2024, I did so with both a strong sense of hope and a fair bit of anxiety.
Runners make their way around Camelback Ranch for the 2021-2022 Across the Years race. Photo: Aravaipa Running
As the last couple of hours of Across the Years passed, I zeroed in on one big goal for 2024 and wondered if I should go for it. I remembered that between 2001 and 2020, I had been able to run over 3,000 miles in a year 13 different times, but I hadn’t come even close to that annual number since. In the predawn light of Camelback Ranch, in the closing hours of Across the Years, I decided to set my big goal for 2024 to once again run 3,000 miles in a year. And by the time the event was finished, I only had 2,985 to go!
I awoke on January 2, 2024, with a renewed sense of focus and a desire to stay consistent and healthy. By the end of January, I had logged 220 miles, and by the end of the first quarter of the year, on March 31st, I had logged a tad over 700. I was behind 3,000-mile pace, but not by much. I ran a couple of races along the way, as well as some big training weekends, and by the halfway point in the year, at the close of business on June 30th, my annual tally stood at 1,403 miles. I had a chance.
This past July, I logged over 240 miles. As I write this on August 27, a few days short of two-thirds of the way through the year, my total mileage for the year is 1,890, and I am feeling healthy and motivated. I just might be able to get my 14th 3,000-mile year done in 2024!
AJW clearly enjoying his 500-meter laps at the 2024 Hotfoot Hamster. Photo courtesy of Andy Jones-Wilkins.
I tell this story not to congratulate myself or to share the boring details of long, lonely miles plodding through the desert — but rather to share something that I have come to realize as I’ve gotten older, which is the intrinsic value of setting a big, potentially hard-to-reach goal. Striving day after day to achieve such a goal can be one of the true gifts of growing older.
As I see my numbers inexorably pile up, and my fitness gains become more noticeable, I find myself motivated by the simple act of getting out there on a daily basis and getting it done. It really doesn’t matter to me that I am running two minutes per mile slower than I did when I last ran 3,000 miles in a year. What matters to me is that I am out there running and chasing a goal that once seemed unattainable, and now seems possible.
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from Holy City Brewing in North Charleston, South Carolina. Washout Wheat is a classic American-style wheat ale with a crisp finish. At 5.3% ABV and a mere 10 IBUs, this is a wonderful late-summer wheat ale to be enjoyed out on the front porch or watching the sunset at the beach.
Call for Comments
- Did you set a big running goal for 2024?
- Are you on the way to achieving it?
