It's almost March

For someone who loves to manipulate numbers, I sure have slacked on my Running Log numbers. I have a bunch to enter into BuckeyeOutdoors (the web’s premier Workout Log Website) and I am not even sure what I actually ran in January, much less most of 2009. Perhaps I can find it before the end of this post.

My last blog entry was the calendar for 2010 of what I want to run, what I may run and the things that I plan on running. Obvious I can’t do it all… there’s just not enough of me to go around. Plus, the cost for all of this would be outrageous!

I wasn’t sure, at first, what I wanted to do for a Spring Race. I am once again volunteering for the Knoxville Marathon and am staying as a course monitor this time and not a pacer. Perhaps in the future I might be ready to be a pacer again, but I’m going to be on the course this year. Without a clear Marathon to choose from, I looked toward a shorter distance… I thought perhaps I could work on the shorter distances, maybe even go for a new 5k PR time. I wasn’t quite exited about that, at least not in the spring, perhaps summer/autumn time. So that left me, with what to run?

The local racing scene here has a Winter series that culminates with the Knoxville Marathon distance. The first race is the Calhoun’s 10 miler, then Strawplains 1/2 marathon and then late-late February/Early March is the Whitestone 30k. So, it seemed to make sense to shoot for a goal race with some distance to it. And looking at the calendar, the Rittenhouse/Emory River Half-Marathon (don’t have an event URL yet) on 4/24 seemed to fit the bill perfectly. It’s far enough in the future to get some good workouts on my feet and it’s a (relatively) short enough distance to build up speed during that time.

The Summer months will be a periodization of shorter but faster work-outs. One, the weather is much too hot for the longer distances and the shorter workouts will also keep things interesting (I love the Ladders!). As the fall approaches, the race that I love to do is the Quad Cities Marathon… one, it’s really close to my birthday at the end September, plus I have a lot of family in the Quad Cities on my Late Biological father’s side. They know that I run and I am sure that I am a maniac… and they would be correct! The marathon runs through Moline, Il and Davenport/Bettendorf IA and Mile 20 is on Rock Island Arsenal… in fact its’ really close to the cemetery that Bob Tripp is buried. So this race has some very unique ties to it… but it doesn’t sit well with the school schedule and traveling to it, etc.

I have every intention of Running the Flying Monkey Marathon again this year! This year, I am registering EARLY to avoid having to worry about getting in! I’ll be bib #438 and will be shooting for a time 4hr 38min or faster! It’s not a race for the timid… if the Hills don’t kill you, the Flying Monkey’s sure will!

I could do both marathons, the Quad Cities (Late Sept) and then Flying Monkey (mid-Nov), but if I couldn’t do that combo… then I’d like to do Rocket City in Mid December. It’s 4hrs away and a little easier on the logistics. Where as a marathon PR at Flying Monkey would be difficult, I think a PR time at ROcket City would be doable, especially, if I could get serious about training in the Fall.

The other marathons highlighted are ones that might be able to make, if the timing works out.

On the morn of the day after I write this, I have the Whitestone 30k… a 18.7 mile run around some non-so-friendly hills around these parts. Should be fun… wonder how far I’ll get before I wear out. Maybe mile 11, maybe mile 18.6… who knows? To make things even more exciting, I had a stomach bug on Friday, that purged my system… which is nice because that’s less weight that I’ll have to carry, but it tends to dehydrate an individual. So we’ll see… I was going to have a Guess My Time, Win Crap contest, but honestly, I don’t think it would be fair to anyone right now… I’ll have it for some of the races this spring though… don’t you worry…

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