Adam Goucher and Tim Catalano are advertising Globally Organized Hug a Runner Day (G.O.H.A.R.D) on their blog. The blog itself offers very clever suggestions for training for this wonderful holiday. They offer tips for using intervals, speed workouts, and cross training activities. What stands out most to me, though, is that G.O.H.A.R.D isn’t until November 20. That is a ten-month training plan! I love being on a training plan and spend most of my year training for one marathon or another, but rare is the race that requires ten months of training. It did key an idea to me, though.

It’s not necessarily that we need a long time to train for our races, but we need to plan our calendar to include the most important events in our lives. It’s always frustrating to hear about an awesome race and realize that you can’t do it because of prior obligations. Now that you have that shiny new running log, go to our events page and pencil in the races you want to do. Get them on your Google Calendar now, so that you can plan around them.

Sometimes we don’t have any control over commitments. Cousin Suzy probably won’t consult you before planning her weekend for the same weekend as The Bix, and good luck getting your wife to induce labor around your marathon schedule’s all-important twenty miler. Having the races on your calendar far in advance will help you make room for your favorite races, though. It can help you remember to ask for those vacation days and hopefully help you avoid baby sitting your annoying cousin Veronica’s colicky baby.

Some races that are on my calendar this year are Town Crier (April 16), Road Ends Five Mile and Half Marathon (April 30), Borgess Run for the Health of It (May 6), Oaklawn Hospitality Classic (May 21),   Flirt with Dirt (June 11), Grandma’s Marathon (June 18), The Legend (August 6), and Fred Meijer White Pines Trail 200 Mile Relay (August 11). Now, I probably won’t be able to do all of these races, but I want to keep them on my calendar so that I can keep the possibility open.

What races are you going to do this year? When do you need to register? When do you need to start training? Plan ahead. Oh yeah, go to Goucher and Catalano’s facebook page to receive training reminders for G.O.H.A.R.D. and don’t forget to click the “I’m Attending” button.