2009 Marathons

As you may know, registration for the Chicago Marathon opened up yesterday. I didn’t register. I really, really wanted to, but decided that it just wasn’t practical. First off, there’s the money. By the time it’s all said and done, I’d drop a $1,000 on the trip. That’s money I just shouldn’t be spending right now with things on the economic front looking as bleak as they are. Then, there’s the big scheduling conflicts…

My lease is up at the end of August and I’m pretty sure that I’m moving. I have no idea where yet (it might be someplace else here in Manhattan, maybe the boroughs, maybe an entirely different city) but I think that my time here in El Barrio is done. I’m just bored. And I don’t want to be moving a month and a half before my marathon.

Plus, there are the other fall marathons — I’m really hoping to get picked in the lottery (or come up with a miraculous 1:23:00 half and qualify) for New York. And, I’m definitely running Philadelphia again because I need to put those demons from mile 22 to rest. I think trying for 3 marathons in 6 weeks would just be too much. Maybe someone with more distance running under their belt could do it, but I don’t think I’m ready yet.

So, no Chicago.

What about spring marathons, you ask? Well, somehow in the shuffle of things, I neglected to mention that I registered for the Delaware Marathon a couple weeks ago. It’s at the end of May so I have 103 days of training left… I’m sticking to pretty much the same training calendar that I did last fall but am going to be more flexible with it — There were a lot of times when I wanted to do more midweek miles but kept them in check because I didn’t want to go over what the plan said. Also, I want to increase some of the distance runs. It has me doing two 18s, three 20s, and one 22 miler, but I’m not sure if that’s enough. We’ll see. I’m planning on mixing a fair amount of shorter distance races into the mix too to help with my pace.

As far as Delaware itself, I’m planning on running very conservatively and just making sure to get my Boston Qualifier out of the way. Then, I will look to tackle that great big menacing 3 hour mark this fall.

And, this is just speculation, but I may try to coordinate a trip to visit family in San Francisco this summer with the marathon out there over the summer. If I do, that would be strictly for fun and not for time because I know I wouldn’t do well with the hills. We’ll see…

So, 2 marathons for sure (Delaware and Philly). Hopefully a third (NYC). And maybe a fourth (San Francisco). Whee!

p.s. This looks like I stole the idea from Antonio’s post, but I really was planning on writing it even before I read his. Honest.