Thinking about the year ahead, it’s tempting to sign up to do all of the things and all of the races. It’s something I’ve been guilty of in the past, notably the past year. I like races – and for me that doesn’t always mean ‘racing’. Sometimes it just means that I know there’ll be friends running and cheering in a certain place on a certain day and paying £20 to join them is a good idea.

dublin marathon

Running with friends = fun!

But I’m trying to learn from the past year, limit the amount of times I hand over £20 to put a number on my chest if I’m not going to run as fast as I can, and put my efforts towards doing a few races well.

So, my plan for 2016 only goes as far as June, because I refuse to sign up for events more than six months in advance right now, and only includes three races. Granted, some of them are long enough to count as at least a couple of races, but that’s a minor detail. I handed over my date of birth and next of kin three times, so it’s definitely only three races.

Cambridge Half Marathon, 28 February

I’ve heard great things about this race and, as it’s just down the road from my home town, a visit to take part is long overdue. I’ll be heading there with a few friends and my sister who’ll be doing her second half marathon.

Though my eyes are firmly on the ultra later in the year, it would be nice to get an ‘official’ half marathon PB. The fastest I’ve run was at the Hampton Court Half last year, but as the course measured slightly short that year, my 1:41ish time doesn’t count.

South Downs Way 50, 9 April

When I was running the 80k EcoTrail Paris last March, I told myself I’d never run that far again. The running was tiring, but fine, I just didn’t love running for 10 hours without any company. But because I’ve heard such good things about the UK ultra scene, and I had a fun time doing Country to Capital, I thought I should give a British 50 miler a go before hanging up my ultra shoes.

Race to the King (52 miles), 25 June

And why do one ultra when you can do two right? Hold on, there’s good reason for this. I want to run a summer race, and as the South Downs Way 50 takes in one half of the South Downs Way, the idea of doing another 52 mile section in the summer months appealed to me. I run a lot slower when I’m training for an ultra, and last year my weekly mileage wasn’t that much different to marathon training, so my legs felt good and I’m confident I can do both of these with a bit of sensible running in between.

And then what?

Recovery! Obvs! But seriously, I’d like to spend the summer swimming a lot and running less. Maybe I’ll target a 5k or 10k PB and then, depending on how my legs feel, train for an autumn half marathon.

Race to the King have kindly given me free entry, the other two races I’ve paid for myself.