Henry got in touch with me last week to let me know that, in his words, he “flew too close to the sun” in his marathon training. Those were good words, so I stole them and made them mine. So Icarus and I won’t be running the Richmond Marathon this year, but we’re still on for the Richmond Half Marathon, which we ran last year. It’s always a good idea to listen to what your body is telling you. Instead of hurting himself and putting himself out of commission for weeks or months, Henry’s going to use his training to crush the half marathon. Last year, neither of us was feeling well before the race, but Henry led us to a strong finish. It was his first half marathon, and my second fastest time for a half. I don’t know how he did it, but I think we can do even better this year.
I’m already registered for the half (I registered a few days after last year’s race). A while ago, I mentioned in a post that I needed someone to remind me to upgrade my registration to run the full, but no one did, so it all panned out. Great work, everyone!
This does leave a hole in my schedule for another marathon, though. If we run hard in Richmond, I won’t want to run a marathon the following weekend, and the weekend after that is Thanksgiving weekend, and I’ll be out of town. So I’d definitely like to do one in December. Which one? Let’s walk through my race selection process.
My favorite website for looking up races is Running in the USA. Using their Mapshot function, you select a month and a distance, and it will display a Google map of the US with pins for races fitting your selection. All I have to do is zoom in on this area, and…
What, nobody likes to run marathons in the beautiful Mid-Atlantic December?
Well, this certainly narrows it down. I’ve got two choices here. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be opposed to traveling a bit outside this map for a good marathon, but I’m a bit low on vacation time, so I need to keep it local.
The first of these two is on December 5 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It’s called… wait for it… the Rehoboth Beach Seashore Marathon. It looks pretty flat, and the weather should be perfect (for me). It’s $140, which wouldn’t be the most I’ve spent on race registration, but it’s up there. I’d also have to stay in a hotel room the night before, which adds to the expense.
The other race is the Hawk Indoor Marathon in Hagerstown, a mere 30 minutes away. It’s not until December 31, but I was already taking that day off work anyway, and I have no plans for that morning. The kicker: you may have noticed from the name that it’s an indoor marathon. There’s also a 50k option. Part of me sees the idea of running 250 (because I’d definitely do the 50k) laps around a 200 meter track as a major strike against this race, while another part of me is very intrigued by the idea. I could go nuts, but I’d go nuts in style.
So, while weighing the pros and cons, a little voice piped up inside my head:
Porque, indeed?
That gives me a 3 week gap after Richmond for the Rehoboth Beach Marathon, with the taper starting over Thanksgiving weekend – convenient! And then 3.5 weeks between that and the Hawk Indoor 50k, with the taper starting during Christmas celebrations – a perfect fit! I could grow to love holiday tapering.
But first, I have to register for these two. I have decided that I definitely want to do the Hawk Indoor either way, but there is no registration website. I found a Facebook page, but I’m still trying to figure out how to register for it. As for Rehoboth, I’m about 80% sure I want to run it, but not fully committed yet. And when I do register, I have to get a hotel reservation.
I’ll decide on Rehoboth by October 31, and keep scrambling for registration info for the Hawk. In the meantime, 40 miles a week should keep me in shape. Stay tuned.
Where am I running? 