Planning ahead

I may have mentioned that I like making plans.  Charting out future events on my trusty google calendar, writing to-do lists, and of course, packing for trips days in advance.  In school, my favorite day of the semester was syllabus day, where I could see what was expected of me for the course, write everything down in my planner, and marvel at all the readings I would later try to avoid doing and the assignments I would procrastinate on until the last possible moment.  That is to say, sometimes my planning outpaces my ability or desire for follow through.

I am definitely that way about races.  When I was first in the throes of post-marathon enthusiasm I didn't say to myself "That was fun, perhaps I could run another one someday!" Instead I scoured marathon listing sites, made a spreadsheet of marathons I'd like to do in each of the 50 states and planned out which races I'd do - at least one every 6 months - for approximately the rest of my life. I stuck with the plan for two more marathons, completing three races in just over 18 months while I was in grad school.  Then real life/full time job set in and combined with my consistently slower run times really took the joy out of marathoning.  I ran some half marathons, did a sprint triathlon and even (under extreme spousal guilt tripping) ran the Chicago Marathon during my first 3 years in San Francisco.  When I started getting faster in the last 6 months or so, I decided I could give the marathon one more try.  After all having run 5 marathons somehow seems more well-rounded than having run 4.  :)

The Avenue of the Giants, my chosen race could not be any more different than the four marathons I've done so far. Detroit, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and especially Chicago were all large, city based races with strong crowd support, while Avenue of the Giants is tiny (~300 participants), in the middle of the redwood forests with very few opportunities for spectators.  I am excited by how scenic this race will be, and hope that I'm able to focus on my pace and my own internal motivations since there won't be anyone else around to motivate me.

And I pulled out my trusty spreadsheet to plan for a fall marathon.  Depending on how my race NEXT WEEK(!!!) goes I may be in a position to BQ (qualify for Boston) in the fall or next spring (knock on wood) so fast courses are on my mind.  My first choice for fall would be the St George Marathon in southern Utah on October 5, however they have a lottery system, so it's not a given that I'd be accepted.  If I miss out on St. George, the Las Vegas Marathon, in November might work as well.

I'm also planning for other future races, with an eye on diversifying.  I swam for the first time in almost a year last night, dipping my toes in the water, so to speak, to see if I can realistically complete an olympic distance triathlon this summer (my swim was dismal in the sprint triathlon I did last year).  I also am planning to do an organized bike ride with Kevin this summer - probably a metric century (100km or ~60 miles).  In September I'm joining a team for a Ragnar Relay in Napa - 12 people, 2 vans, ~200 miles (each person only runs about 15-20 miles of that, in the 12 person rotation).

And since I'm in the mood to sign up for things, (and because I like to have at least one picture per post)  I may try this too: