trying to figure out my running goals for the year

So, putting aside the question of whether or not it’s possible for me to put in enough miles to run a 50 miler in two months, I am feeling kind of aimless with my running right now. There are a lot of directions that I could take, and I’m not really sure what is best this year. 

I don’t really have an interest in short distances. At least not training for races shorter than a half marathon. I really just like to run long distances. I’d love to get my 5k under 21 minutes (my PR is 21:06) but I don’t really care that much about it. Oh, and I kind of hate speed work.

Being physically able to run Boston 2015 is my biggest priority, but I don’t really care about my time, at least I don't right now. I'm expecting that just being in the race will be very emotional. My great-grandfather, Paul DeBruyn won the Boston marathon in 1932, so there is a lot of family pride/emotions in addition to the fact that it is BOSTON! 

I’m signed up for the Wineglass Marathon October 5. It’s flat and fast and I had hoped on setting a new marathon PR. But again, it’s not a big goal for me right now. It is not realistic that I will get back to that distance and speed this year. Last year I did not follow a training plan for anything. I just ran a lot. I believe that I have the potential to run a faster marathon if I had a coach and was focused solely on that goal. 

I could focus on half marathons this year and work on building a solid foundation for next year and gaining speed. I would like to set a half marathon PR as my official PR time is from a hilly race in April of last year and the half marathon splits for both the Buffalo Marathon and Mohawk Hudson Marathons were faster than my current PR time. But again, it's something I would like to do, but not a high priority. 

Ultramarathons are really what excite me the most. I WANT to finish a 50 miler. And then many more. And I want to follow that with 100k and 100 mile finishes. I really just want to run. I love running on trails. I love hitting the point in a run when I don't think I can keep going but knowing that that moment is the worst part and I can and will keep running. I love knowing that I have the mental toughness to stick it out long after every part of my body hurts and my mind is going crazy and with every step I am thinking about quitting. I love new challenges, which I suppose is why getting faster at distances I have already accomplished holds a lot less interest than reaching for longer distances and harder challenges.