Swim/Bike/Run "To Do List"

In the past week, a lot of the running and triathlon blogs I read have been listing their race schedule for 2011.  This intrigues me, and baffles me.  I don’t think I’ve ever known in January what races I’ll do over the course of the next 12 months.  I just don’t plan that far ahead, and the only thing I can think of that WOULD cause me to start planning 12 months in advance is an Ironman.  Which I have no concrete plans to do.

The only events I’m committed to at this point (i.e. have spent money) are the Houston Half at the end of this month, the Texas Independence Relay in March with a BAM team, and the Warrior Dash is mid-March with Debbie and Jason.  I’ve also signed up as a volunteer at Ironman Texas in May.  Nevertheless, I’ve got some ideas about what events I’d like to do…and here they are:

Jan 30 – Aramco Houston Half Marathon
Feb 20 – Galveston Mardi Gras Half Marathon
Mar 5-6 – Texas Independence Relay (Gonzales to Houston)
Mar 20 – Warrior Dash (Conroe)
Apr 3 – Gateway to the Bay Olympic Triathlon (Kemah)
Apr 10 – Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 (Galveston)
Apr 16 – Yuri’s Night 5K
May 21 – Ironman Texas (volunteer)
May ? – Silverlake Sprint Tri or Combat Sprint Tri
Jun ? – Y Freedom Sprint Tri
Aug 27 – Clear Lake International Tri
Oct 23 – 5150 Galveston Tri
Dec ? – Reindeer Run 5K
Dec ? – RunGirl Half Marathon

That’s 14 events.  I’ll be surprised if I end up doing all of those races specifically, but the number itself isn’t unusual — I did 14 races in 2010, and my all-time high is 22 races in 2008.  It’s an ambitious schedule, and there will certainly be things that pop up that change my plans.  There will almost certainly be a smattering of local 5Ks and 10Ks that end up on that list too.

And of course there are goals to be set.  Do I want to just run the race for fun?  Beat my previous course PR?  Set a new PR for the distance?

Any other races out there I should do?