2020 Pictorial Timeline & Training Review

My last post was almost a year ago, because that was when my last race occurred.  Then COVID happened, giving me an entire year to think about the train wreck that was Brazos Bend 100!  

Here’s a timeline of 2020 from this ultrarunner’s perspective.

Jan/Feb 2020
Life is normal.  Joe makes two big running goals: 

#1 - Win a golden ticket race for Big’s Backyard Ultra and run the championship in TN in October.

#2 - Run a 24-hour race and qualify for the US National 24-hour team.


Mar/Apr 2020
COVID becomes a thing.  Freedom is replaced by Fear, as unknowns swirl regarding the virus and pandemic.  



Goal #1 is canceled.  Joe focuses training on Goal #2.




May/Jun 2020
The world is having a meltdown.  Love is replaced by Hate.  Racial unrest everywhere.



Joe keeps training.




Jul/Aug 2020
Political tensions begin ramping up.  Social media fans the flames.



Joe keeps running.  Joe and Julie escape with the family to the mountains - same as every year.






Sep/Oct 2020
The country argues over which wealthy, senile, crooked old sexual predator would make the least-terrible president.



Joe trains.




Nov 2020
One of the major candidates wins the election, but somehow things are worse.



Joe’s candidate only received 1% of the vote, but he didn’t lose any sleep over it.  Except, for that one morning when he randomly woke up at midnight and decided to run a little marathon.




Dec 2020 - THE FUTURE!
Desert Solstice takes place on December 12 in Phoenix, where I’ll be competing in an elite field of athletes, running around a high school track for 24 hours straight.

Thanks to the lack of races and extra time from not commuting to work, I’ve put in more training mileage this year than any of my previous 11 years of running, and will likely hit 4,000 miles for 2020. 

I have a ridiculous, incredulous, lofty goal.  I want to make the 6-man US National 24 hour team - they take the top 6 performances over a ~2 year qualifying period, and this is about the last race of the qualifying window.  To achieve this, I’ll need to obliterate my 100-mile PR (that part will be easy) enroute to a mileage in the upper 150s or maybe even 160+ in 24 hours on the track (that part will be hard).

I probably ate too many paint chips as a kid.  But with the year we’ve all had, I think insane goals are appropriate.

Comments

  1. Julie SchmalNovember 25, 2020 at 9:15 AM

    Love your posts, always! ❤️ One quibble, though — I think we weren’t in a love fest prior to May/June 2020. Can’t wait to cheer you on at DS! 👏👏👏 You are amazing!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joe SchmalNovember 25, 2020 at 9:35 AM

      Probably right! I figured April was that brief period of covid when everyone was cool with a little sacrifice, before everyone got sick of it 😂

      Delete
    2. Rob Van HoutenNovember 25, 2020 at 11:23 AM

      Love the timeline Joe. CJ and I will be cheering on you Dec 12th !!

      Delete
    3. Thomas BowlingNovember 25, 2020 at 5:25 PM

      I really thought there would be more running blogs and Rockhopper posts in 2020. I'm a little disappointed, but this made up for 11 months of nada.

      Delete

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