40 by 40

There was a comment in the letters to the editor in the June Runner's World about completing 40 events the year she turned 40. This got me thinking.

I could do that.

My 37th birthday is coming up soon, so 40 isn't that far off.

After some thought though, I think I want to complete 40 events by the time I turn 40 (40 by 40), starting when I turn 38. If I were to try to do it in one year starting when I turn 39, I'd have to do roughly 3.5 events every month, and I'm not sure our schedule can handle that.

Who am I kidding? I know our schedule couldn't handle it. So, being a bit more realistic, spreading it out over two years will be much more manageable and I should actually be able to achieve this goal.

The current plan is to complete 15 or so events in the coming year while I get in shape and build my mileage. I'll then increase to 20 events in each of the following years, finishing the fortieth event before I turn 40.

This'll definitely be more events than I've run in a year. The closest I've come in the past was my cross-country years in high school. I think we ran an average of 12-15 races each season? Somewhere around that number. Increasing the events I participate in over the next couple years should make it all manageable and hopefully I can do this without getting injured. And I should be in a lot better shape :)

Not only do I want to finish 40 events, I want to run a wide variety of events. They're mostly running events, but I've included a couple mixed events in my list.

Some of the distances I'll be trying to check off:
1 mile
5k (3.1 miles)
4 miles
7k (4.3 miles)
8k (4.97 miles)
5 miles
10k  (6.2)
15k (9.3)
10 miles
half marathon (13.1 miles)
25k (15.5)
full marathon (26.2 miles)

And some of the types of races I'll be trying to check off:
road race
trail run
mud run
virtual race
obstacle race
color run (maybe)
evening/night race
relay run (Ragnar, if I can get a team together)
biathlon
sprint triathlon (if I can find one locally that's not on a Sunday)
out-of-state
international

Plus any other distance/variety of event that I can find. I'll be mixing and matching as much as possible, like running trail runs of various distances. I've seen most of the above races locally (or somewhat locally), so I should be able to do this without having to travel too far.

Anyone want to join me in my running craziness? :)