Friday, November 20, 2009

Choosing a Marathon and Only 155 miles to Go

On Buckeyeoutdoors, I have signed up for a challenge to run 1000 miles in 2009.  I have run 845 miles so far and have only 155 miles left.  If I average that out over the 6 remaining weeks, its only 25 miles a week, which is very achievable. Tomorrow I have a long run of 16 miles and am not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not.  I went for a bike ride this morning and was slightly bored even though I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Phedipidations. When I run in the winter I warm up and don't notice the cold.  Riding the bike I'm cold the whole time.  Next time I'll add extra layers.

I keep thinking about which marathon to run.  My options are the PF Changs marathon in January or  IMS West Valley marathon in February.  Since Boston is no longer an option in 2010, I can run a February marathon which gives me more time, is cheaper and will have about 40,000 fewer runners.  If I register before November 30th, it is only $50, which is substantially cheaper than PF’s $125 price tag.  I looked at the results from last years February marathon and since it was an inaugural marathon the field size was really small.  There were only 105 marathoners and based on my projected time that would place me about 35th 3rd female and 3rd in my age group.  I'm sure this year the field will be bigger, which would be nice to run with more people.   I know, enough thinking about it….I just need to make a decision and sign up.  The reason for not signing up is fear of getting injured, not being able to run it and wasting the money.  Again.  I’ve done the first step and printed out the registration form and completed it.  It will now sit on my desk for the next week until I finally decide.

Once home from the bike ride I made myself pancakes using Kodiak whole wheat pancakes mix (just add water...how easy is that).  I took today off because I accidentally volunteered myself to have company over for a week during Thanksgiving and now I need to clean, rearrange furniture and go grocery shopping so there is actually some food in the house.  I didn't think I'd have enough time over the weekend to get everything done so asked for the day off from work.  This time off is much needed. Every weekend we have been busy and its nice to have the time to do the laundry, go through paperwork and read and comment on blogs. 

6 comments:

Jenn said...

I hate making decisions! I do love PF Changs Thai lettuce wraps though (don't know how that would have anything to do with the marathon). Good luck in deciding!!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

I am ahead of my plan and only have to run 13.1 miles a week to get to 1,000.. TOTALY doable.

Good luck deciding..

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

I am ANAL so I keep a spreadsheet with a formula that adds my total mileage and gives me my MILES LEFT... That way every time I ADD I know what is left and can calculate. Works for me..

Natalia said...

Hi Christina, Thanks for visiting my blog! I had to smile reading this post, because I dilly-dallied for a long time before taking the plunge and signing up for Hyannis. Is Cape Cod too far for the marathon stakes? Upside is that the field closes out at 400 and is a Boston qualifier (maybe 2011?), downside is that the weather in New England can be brutal!
I too have taken the week off, so in between the cleaning etc, I am looking forward to reading more about your running and training.

Drusy said...

Yep, I've done almost the same calculation and hope to make 1000 miles this year. Good luck Christina!

Aron said...

good luck deciding on your marathon!! its always so tough to pick :) good luck getting to 1000!!! you can totally do it!