2025 Race Plans
In early June of last year, I went to South Dakota for the first time to run the XTerra Deadwood Mickelson Trail Half Marathon in South Dakota. It was fun!
Before I launch into my 2025 planned races and adventures, I think it’s time to give some thanks real quick. 2024 was a hard year on the personal side, but thankfully I am now in a much different placed than I was last year at this time.
Last January I was starting my 4th month of unemployment with no job offer in sight. I had been recruited for my previous two job roles, so getting no reply to my applications was incredibly humbling.
And since I was not working, I was really watching my expenses, so I decided not to register for any races that had over a $50 registration fee.
New job started in July but due to new work responsibilities and my still recovering bank account I decided to cancel a big race trip in September that I had been looking forward to.
Then, in late October one of my dogs passed away from congestive heart failure. Even though I only had him a year, my heart broke when he passed and I withdrew from yet another race in early November. I just couldn’t bring myself to leave my other pup while she was mourning her friend who had died.
RIP to Ace, my sweet boy, who despite his heart problems always loved to run!
Needless to say, I was happy to close the door on 2024. Partly because it was a rough year but also because planning for a big, fun year of running in 2025 was getting me amped up.
Quite simply, I am happy that I am in a different place than I was last year. I thank God for my new job that can pay for race registrations and running trips to amazing places. And I am thankful that I still have a great Chocolate Lab who isn’t a runner but LOVES to help me cross train with hiking on the trails.
2025 Races
My running goal this year is to get stronger, faster, and (dare I share this out loud)….to podium at one big race.
For someone who has never podiumed at any race this is a tall order. But as they say, go big or go home. And that has kind of become one of my life mottos.
So, how am I going to do all this? Not entirely sure, but I do have a fun, challenging race calendar set up that is designed to get me ready for my big mountain adventure in October. This is what it looks like:
Feb 16: Keep it local with the Turquoise Trail 26k.
Mar 16: Xterra Black Canyon Half Marathon where I will try to qualify for the Xterra Trail World Championships in Wales by placing in the top 3 of my age group.
April 26: Cedro Peak 25k. My resolution is to NOT go the wrong way this year.
May 3: Shiprock Marathon. I need redemption from my 2022 debut where 13 miles of muscle spasms reduced me to walking several miles.
June 21: Broken Arrow 46k. This race has me nervous due to the 9,100 ft of elevation gain.
July 12: Xterra Trail Half Marathon World Championships in Wales (ONLY if I qualify at the March race.
Sep 12-14: Golden Ultra Full Pint 3-day race in British Columbia. I heard the views are AMAZING for this race.
Sep 30-Oct 4: Kilimanjaro Peak Ultra 68k in Tanzania. This will be my BIG adventure for the year. I am STOKED for it.
Nov 8: Moab Trail Half Marathon. This is a race I withdrew from last year after my pup died, so I’ll run this race in honor of my sweet boy who though he had heart problems that didn’t allow him to run hard, he still always wanted to run and have fun.
Dec 10: Honolulu Marathon. My favorite road marathon in my favorite place. This will be my 4th time running it.
The 2021 Honolulu Marathon was the last time I ran the Honolulu Marathon. Excited to be heading back this year to run it again.
This year will be big. In fact, I was just saying to my checking account…it’s time to saddle up to pay for those race registrations and trips! (My savings account gets no say in this.)
It is worth noting that while I am usually a sub-ultra trail runner, the Kilimanjaro Peak Ultra will be my second ultramarathon. My first foray into ultrarunning was in 2017 where I ran the Tarawera 62k in New Zealand and came in third from last in my distance. This ultra was also my first trail race (I don’t recommend that). It took me over 14 hours to run this ultra of only a little over 5,000 ft of elevation gain.
After that humbling ultra dance, I decided to stick to sub-ultra distances. But the Kilimanjaro Peak Ultra was just too incredible of an adventure to pass up, so I broke my own “Thou shalt not do ultramarathons” commandment and registered.
It will take a lot of training and resources for me to be ready for the race and to even just get there, but I will share more about that in a separate post.
If any of these races sound exciting, I invite you to join! If any of these races sound scary or intimidating, then I absolutely invite you to join. Adventure is found in pushing our boundaries, so let’s push the running envelope together.
Want updates….check back here on the blog and stay tuned to my Instagram for training news and race reviews as the year progresses.
For now, run strong and fuel well, my friends!