Back in November when I was pacing my sister to her first sub 2-hour marathon, I realized how much focus I had lost with my own running. While doing things like the Disney Marathon and randomly changing races during the Runner’s World festival weekend were fun, I hadn’t set a hardcore goal for myself in more than a year.

That was when I decided to set a goal for Shamrock after being mostly goal-less at year’s race. It’s also given me renewed focus on goals in general — things like setting a goal of 1,000 miles for 2014 are enjoyable once again.

I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to PR at a half again this year, or what other PRs I’ll go for, but it’s so nice to be back in a state of mind in which future races have more meaning that just to run them.

In a month, I’ll be tackling another half marathon — the Blue Ridge Half Marathon in Roanoke, Va. As similar to the past few years, I was actually signed up for the full, but lack of training for it, tired legs after Shamrock and taking most of last week off led me to what I think is a wise decision to do the half.

This will be my fourth time doing this half; in my previous three races I’ve come away feeling tremendously satisfied, but also disappointed. I’ve generally approached this race with no goal in mind … just finish it … have fun with it.

While having fun and completing this beast of a course have been nice, I’m ready to set a goal — 1:50.

That almost seems crazy considering last year was just a little more than 2 hours, and the previous two were at 1:57 and 1:59. This year’s race also incorporates the Peakwood neighborhood, so there’s even more elevation change. I feel like with some focus over the next few weeks, though, that going for 1:50 is realistic.

I don’t know how much I’ll write about my goals and training — life is quite busy with two kids — but I’m putting it out there and ready to keep things rolling in 2014.

Now I’m off to find some hills to get ready …