Running Goals for 2026

Holy cow! I am glad 2025 is over. It was not a good year for me and my running. Excited to start 2026 fresh, healthy, and happy. No injuries (except a nagging heel/Achilles soreness). Here is a link to my 2025 running goals. I failed all five of them. Need to think about new goals for 2026. Reasonable but challenging. And motivating. I'd like to return in one year and see that I accomplished all of my goals. And feel proud of those achievements. OK, here are my running goals for 2026:

1. Hit 25 Completed Parkruns. I have 14 total so far, so only 11 more 5K parkruns to hit the 25 milestone. You can buy a shirt after that achievement! One a month seems doable. In the back of my head I think I could hit 50. But maybe 50 should be a goal for 2027. One step at a time. One parkrun at a time. My local parkrun is at Morrissey park in Champaign, IL. Every Saturday at 9am. Free and fun. 

2. Run at least one ultramarathon. We have the "Free Ultra Quadfecta" that encompasses 4 trail ultras. All free. All local. I can and will finish one of them. Maybe two. Three? All 4 for the grand slam? I guess it is officially a Quadfecta! Similar to the parkruns, I'll take this goal one step at a time. One ultra in 2026. Maybe a slam in 2027.

3. Run at least 1,200 miles. I always like to have a distance goal in my year plan. I only ran 670 miles in 2025. Sad. This year I can knock off 100 miles/month. 1,200/year. Easy peasy! That will be almost double 2025 miles. Nice!

4. Break 22:00 for a 5K. My last 5K (one week ago) was 22:58. My best in 2025 was 22:28. I can drop 30 seconds off my best time in 2025. One minute off my most recent attempt. Hard, but doable! Here comes 21:59 for 2026. 

5. Join a local running club and do one of their races. I used to be very involved with local running. I was a member of more than one club, board member and president of Second Wind Running Club, and I started and directed 2 races that are still going (Buffalo Trace Trail Race and Clinton Lake 30-miler). Local clubs pissed me off and I quit them. It's been a few years so I should give them a try again. Join and run a race. Easy, right? Maybe I'll make a new friend. 

6. Go to the gym at least 50 times. I can hit the gym once a week, right? Weights, cross training, even a treadmill run. It's doable. I set 50 as the benchmark so I can have 2 full weeks of nothing and still hit my goal. Of course, I can go twice/week and have even more time off and still hit 50 minimum gym visits.

Those are my goals for 2026. Notably missing is a BQ qualifying time (need 3:50). That would be nice, but do not want to pressure myself. If the year goes well, I might try for a BQ time in September. No promises.

Did I Achieve my 2025 Running Goals?

They achieved their goals. 

Back in early January 2025, I announced my running goals for the year. They seemed reasonable. Did I meet those 5 goals? Let's look at each one:

1. Qualify for 2026 Boston Marathon. Nope. Fail. Didn't even run a marathon in 2025. Yikes. Is it better to try and fail or not try at all? I didn't try. Not good. 

2. Run a 1:45:55 half-marathon. Nope. Another fail. I only ran one half-marathon in 2025 and it was on trails and very slow (2:15 finish). Not good. 

3. Run across Grand Canyon. Nope. Another big fail. Was actually hoping for a R2R2R, but would have been happy with a single crossing. I blame the north lodge burning down for my fail. How could I run across if there was no lodge on the north end? 

4. Finish one ultramarathon. Nope. Fail. Not even close. Longest run all year was a HM. I did try 3 ultras (part of the Free Ultra Quadfecta), but DNFd all of them. Sad.

5. Run at least 1,200 miles. Nope. Fail. Big time. My total miles for 2025 was 670. Barely 50% of my goal. Not good. 

So I had 5 goals for 2025 and met none of them! 0 for 5. I need to regroup, reflect, and consider new goals for 2026. Those new goals will be posted soon. 

Tally of 2025 Races

2025 has been a terrible year for my running. Too many illnesses and running injuries. But I still managed to finish a few races. In fact, I ran more races than normal (assuming I count free Parkrun 5Ks). I ran a total of 19 "races" in 2025:

• 14 Parkrun 5Ks (Morrissey Park)
• 3 trail races (Allerton 13.1, Allerton 5.7, Aruna 5K)
• 2 road 5Ks (Kirby Derby and Mahomet)

I also had 3 DNFs at trail ultramarathons:

• Backyard Ultra (Last Man Standing)
• Allerton Ultra (29 miler)
• Clinton Lake Winter Solstice (30 miler)

And one notable DNS: Riddle Run 28 miler. I had run this for 25 straight years until now. I missed due to a work conference. I'll be back in 2026 for Riddle Run #27! Work should not interfere with running. I also missed two virtual runs (Pi Run and Hot Chocolate 15k). 

The saddest part of 2025 was my longest run being so short: half-marathon. 13.1 miles. Yikes. As someone who still thinks of myself as an ultrarunner (I've done 113 ultra/marathons), this hurts. I believe 2026 will be better. Plan on keeping regular 5K "races" in the mix to develop speed, but also regular long runs for endurance. And at least one ultramarathon!