I know I mentioned in my Motivational Mondays post about savoring moments, which for me are races, but I'm already thinking about filling out a big chunk of my time this fall.
I considered several options but it was difficult to really focus on anything because of the Mud Run, but now that it's over I've got time to ponder.
Of course, I'd already mostly decided on running a marathon, the Long Beach Marathon as it were, but now that's up in the air. For one reason. Or is it for 12 reasons?
Something called the Ragnar Relay is now forcing me to re-consider plans for the Long Beach Marathon. Ever heard of the Ragnar Relay? Well, before Saturday I hadn't. In short, it's a 12-team relay race. There are several of these races across the country and the premise is pretty similar: a 12-member team competes in a nonstop 180-mile race, with each runner logging three runs in a span of 24 hours or however long it takes to complete the race. So I could have legs the begin at, say 10 a.m., 6 p.m. and 4 a.m., and each would range from three miles to a shade over eight.
We're considering trying to put together a team to compete in the Las Vegas race, which is from Oct. 9-10. Right now, we'd have seven members. Danny seems confident in our (his) ability to fill out the team. I gave him a soft commitment: if we can get a team together by the end of June (price goes up afterward) then I'm in, we sign up and I won't run the Long Beach Marathon (sad) which is scheduled for Oct. 11. But if that happens, I might be up for the Santa Clarita Marathon, scheduled for Nov. 8. It's not that close to my house (about 80 miles) but then again neither is Camp Pendleton (about the same, only in the opposite direction). And if not that one, another SoCal marathon in November if there is one.
Another option might be a marathon in September, but I'd prefer to have longer to train for it than shorter. November would work well since the Ragnar Relay wouldn't really interfere with marathon training. It might interfere with sleep and life in general but not necessarily marathon training.
There are other options if I choose Ragnar over Long Beach: run a half-marathon in September or November; plan for a 2010 marathon, perhaps LA or another one in February/March.
Everything is up in the air right now. The Ragnar sounds like such an exciting event (not to Mrs. LB, though, who said it sounded like waterboarding or some other form of torture) but the marathon is, well, a marathon, the ultimate test of endurance (at least for us lay people). If I can have my cake and eat it too, then why not?
4 comments:
Remember, Surf City is in February, and that is what the Lopers will be training for, this season.
That relay sounds interesting, I have never heard of anything like that.
Whatever you choose, I am sure you will do an awesome job.
I've been drooling over that relay race! I'm borderline obsessing over it. I hope we can field a team so we can enter the race. We have six for sures and four more maybes. We'll see. We can enter with 10 or 11 but that means a runner or two would have to double up, and that's a lot of running!
But man that sounds like a blast, running day and night for 24 hours straight! Awesome.
And you're right, I could shoot for the February marathon. I may go out to a Lopers meeting on the 28th to see what it's all about. Maybe that would be the best option.
I just stumbled across this post because I have a google news alert for "ragnar relay"
Anyway, I just did the New York ragnar relay in May and had a blast...so much so that almost our whole team is reuniting for the boston relay sept 11-12
I recently wrote that I would choose a ragnar relay over a marathon any day...
Slightly less training, but so much more fun... A much more social experience... And still quite an accomplishment and u still get a medal!!
I've run 11 marathons, but I may hang them up to run relays like this instead!!
I highly recommend it!! Email me at funkyferris@gmail.com if you want to chat or see some pics!!
I've never heard of a Ragnar Relay before. It sounds pretty cool!
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