One of my favorite things about beginning a new year is the start of firsts. I love a good first action of the year. The first laugh, the first run. The first smile of the year when you have that first cup of coffee. (Shoutout to our storebrand coffee called H-E-B, not a sponsor but I wish). The first kiss of the year with my cutie pie wife. The first burp of the year at the dinner table when I am then told to go out and run off my energy.

New Years Resolutions may often be a first for many people or a continuation of current goals. Some of us runners may want to hit a Boston or London Qualifier marathon time for the first time or continue running a mile a day for a year. The goal could be to run your very first 5k or finish a 50k run. Maybe the goal for some of us the first is to have a salad every day for lunch for a week! Now, that’s a crazy goal for this guy.

I believe it is important to celebrate the first accomplishments of the year. My day to day career is teaching communication skills to children and adults with behavioral needs. One thing in my field that we talk about is behavior momentum. This is a strategy used that implies when you complete easier tasks, it makes the harder ones more feasible. Think of it as once you hit those first few steps on a run, the next steps aren’t typically as bad. Before you know it, you may have a few miles in the bag. What seemed tough to do at first, run a few miles, became more attainable with the smaller steps.

I try to use this strategy when looking at my own running goals for the year. Starting at 30 miles a week is a tougher goal for me rather than hitting the first 5k run in a day. So why not celebrate that first 5k? That positivity can carry us forward onto those harder goals.

2026 has been off to a good start for me and I had a few firsts to celebrate. Although I am not quite hitting all my targets on track, I am doing my best to carry forward. So let’s celebrate together. A few firsts towards my goals include:

• First 10k of the year!

I ran my first 10k during a training run on January 17th. It was a breezy one that day in Austin. I remember the wind being pretty chilly (from a Texan perspective) and running with the wind at my back was a lot more fun than running into it. I’m sure the weather was still 60 degrees Fahrenheit/15 degrees Celsius. My total time was just under an hour and as for the 10k, and new personal record for the year, the time was 54:39. This was about an 8:48 pace for the run and it was a pretty flat segment the entire route. It did include some trail running which was fun. The most fun part was not twisting my ankle. I am definitely not excited for that first ankle twist of the year and I know it will come eventually. Maybe next week?

• First 1,000 + feet gained in one run!

I’m not sure how long it took me last year to hit 1,000 feet of elevation gain in one run but this year it happened on January 19th. I took on the classic big hill near me, the Hill of Death. Just like last year, it is as painful as I remember. It still beat me down and will continue to do so in the future. I managed to get up it four times without stopping for a walk break which was a huge early 2026 victory. The total elevation for that run ended up being 1,083 feet gained with an average of 9:12 pace per mile. Pace was much faster on the downhills and I’m sure I was at 10:30 + on the uphills.

What also helped that day was having the weather be under 50 degrees Fahrenheit rather than my typical attempts during summertime. That summer weather of 90 degrees plus will come. Hitting this 1,000 feet mark as well as a few other hilly days led to another first accomplishment too…

• First weekly elevation goal hit!

I set a pretty crazy goal to run over 100,000 feet in elevation gain in one year. In order to do this, I would need to gain an average of 1,923 feet per week and about 274 per day. After 21 days into this year, I should be at 5,753 feet. Your averagerunnerpaul is at…4,040! Whoops, I’m behind. Did that surprise you? Probably not.

To hit the on track monthly goal, I need to be close to 8,500 at the end of January. I’ll probably be a bit short but I am still building up mileage and elevation from a running break at the end of 2025. And on a first positive week note, I hit the weekly goal this last week by hitting 2,674 feet for this week! Woohoo to progress being made.

That makes it easier to reach the bigger goals with some small steps taken in the right direction towards the yearly goal. Yay for behavior momentum, it does work! At least the theory does. For my job, it depends on the day. Now, I have not raced any time related goals for the year for fastest mile and such so there isn’t great data there yet. I did hit a 7:38 mile during one training run so far and may attempt for some speed work in the spring. Maybe a march mile? I could try to shoot for sub 6 at that point. The other important goal I have is to average 30 miles per week. I have not done that but I did get one last big first of the year…

• First 30 mile week!

I managed to get in just over 6 miles today to hit 30 miles for the week. I was at 26.5 miles before typing this post and being so close to 30 miles, I figured I should get in a few more miles after work to hit that mark. Janel was working late so I had an opportunity to run before making some tacos for dinner. Yummm.

Anyway, this is the first 30 mile week of the year with hopefully many more to come. Last year, I managed to run 13 weeks of 30 mile weeks. I got a wee bit of time to hit that mark for 2026 and hopefully pass it. My total mileage is a little past 68 miles which is an average of 3.23 miles per day. That’s just past a 5k a day and the total goal will be to average 4.27 miles per day. I believe this is still a possibility. Ask me how I feel about hitting this mark by the end of February.

On a random note, I have officially hit a run streak of 22 days which has been a fun little side project this year. For me, my streak includes running at least 1 mile a day and began on New Year’s Eve. How long will I go? Who knows. If you have interest in longer run streaks, I have been inspired to try one by another blogger called Ironman Chris who ran for 1202 straight days! What an amazing accomplishment there.

Onto the seconds of the year

With the first accomplishments in the rearview mirror, it is time to ramp up the training and chase after those 2026 goals. I’m slightly ahead of last year on the elevation and mileage side by the 21 day point. Here is a little data comparison for those of us nerdy runners out there. On the left we have 2025 and on the right, 2026.

(I still got 10 days of January so hopefully the total goes up!)

I hope your 2026 firsts are coming along well and if you have any start of the year accomplishments, I would love to hear them! That behavior momentum is important!