On deck for 2009

I had planned my 2009 races carefully, or so I'd thought. I had set a goal of running a half-marathon on June 6 and had all but let all the other races fall into place around that.

But then life had a way of throwing a curve ball.

The Camp Pendleton Race series is set for 2009 and the Mud Run dates are up: June 6, 7 and 13 will be my only chances to participate in the Mud Run a year from now. That sort of forces me to choose between running a half marathon that day or run the Mud Run.

I choose the Mud Run. If that's the choice, it's not exactly a tough one when it comes down to it. There are only three Mud Run races, and they are all within an eight-day span. There will be lots of other opportunities to run a half marathon next year, and I've even found a few.

My tentative (and revised) plan for 2009 now is this:

Jan. 24 - Ontario Mills 5K
April 19 - Redlands Half Marathon
June 6 - Camp Pendleton Mud Run
Sept. 19 - Camp Pendleton Half Marathon

That's four races in 2009, or at least the first nine months of 2009 anyway. I may consider running the Mission Inn Run again, possibly the 5K or 10K. But I'm not sure yet on that one.

If you notice, that's two half-marathons in 2009. That's a lot of mileage and a rather rigorous training schedule. However, they are all spaced out enough from each other to allow for proper training and, just as important, rest time in between training.

I figure the Ontario race will serve as a bit of a wake-up call. I'll have to do some sort of limited training for that, and hopefully it won't really be limited. Then, after that I'll have to start training for the half marathon. There will be just enough time in between those races for me to train the way I've wanted to train for it, over 10 weeks in a slow buildup for what will be the biggest race of my life. Then, there will be enough time to rest and train for the Mud Run. I'll be interested to see how the training goes once I'm done with the half-marathon. Being that I'll have run 13 miles or so in a race, I think (well, actually I hope) that the training for the Mud Run won't be as tough on me as it was in 2008, when I had little previous training leading up that point.

The second half-marathon is also a maybe. It will either be that one or the Disneyland half-marathon, which is a couple of weeks before. Or another option will be some sort of 10K around that time. I'm not sold on yours truly being able to train for and run two half-marathons in one calendar year, but that's what I want to shoot for.

Am I excited? Actually, yes, I'm quite excited to have goals again. However, I need to temper that excitement since I won't actually train for them until next year. I've still got a lot of time between now and then. But at least I know that 2008 will have served as a great foundation for future races and runs.