What's Next?

Now that Surf City is done and I've completed a marathon, I can look ahead at the rest of the year in terms of races. I've been wanting to blog about this for a while but I promised Mrs. LB that I would wait until after the marathon to really consider the year, to let myself experience my first marathon without letting distractions get in the way.

That doesn't mean I didn't ponder other races, but rather I just did some harmless window shopping.

Now I feel like going on a shopping spree.

Next Marathon?

There will be a second marathon for me - you can take that to the bank. The only question is, will it be this year or next? I really want to run another one soon, mostly because I've already trained for and ran one, so I wouldn't have to start over from scratch with my training. A few long-distance runs would be all I'd need to maintain my mileage right now. Really, that's it.

Now, the LA Marathon would seem perfect. It's less than six weeks away and I'd really only have to run one 20-mile run. Now, I say "only" not because that's not challenging but because it's not daunting to run one versus having two or more on the schedule. And really, I could get away with not even running a 20-miler - look at Hal Higdon's six-weeks-between-marathons plan. That is very appealing.

But I'm going to have to pass on LA because it just seems too soon for me. Maybe I should just go for it but I'm going to play it cautiously on that one. Besides, the Lopers will probably go back to training for and running LA once our season starts again in July so I can run the LA Marathon in 2011.

The marathon I'm really salivating over is the OC Marathon. Now, Huntington Beach is in the OC, so wouldn't it be like running the same race again? Not exactly. The OC Marathon runs all over Orange County - Newport Beach, Irvine, Costa Mesa. Looking at the course map, it seems like you get a little taste of everything the OC has to offer... even Santa Ana. Yay for Santa Ana! Um... actually, Santa Ana is kind of a dumpy place but I have a lot of family that lives there and have lived there twice in my life so it's special to me. Dumpy, but special. And over off of Memory Lane, there are some very nice houses.

Anyway, that seems like it would be a bit away in that it would give me time to recover from Surf City, both physically and mentally, and give me enough time to really want to get out there and knock out another 26.2-miler.

If the OC Marathon doesn't happen, then I'm not sure about another marathon in twenty-ten. Any fall/winter marathon means long training runs in the summer months, and that's not exactly fun or healthy. That doesn't mean it's not doable, but just makes it a bit more challenging.

Half Marathons

I want to go for my sub-two-hour half in April and re-visit the sight of one of my first major running triumphs. I want to sign up for the Run Through Redlands Half Marathon, slated for April 18. This wouldn't interfere with the OC Marathon training but rather add to it. This would be two weeks to the day before that race and would send me into a taper on a high note.

Maybe a sub-two-hour half is too ambitious for this slow runner but I want to test myself again. If nothing else, I want to see what a knowledgeable LB can do in this race, and not the LB who ran it last year, undertrained and underinformed.

The Mission Inn Half Marathon is another one I'll probably run, but that's not until November. Another half I would love to run before then is the San Francisco Half Marathon. This might be a good getaway weekend for Mrs. LB and myself. We've never been to San Francisco together - I think I might have gone there when I was like 5 or 6 but not since. It would be relatively close and we could definitely make a weekend out of it. Plus, I'd get to run across the Golden Gate Bridge. How cool would that be?? I haven't completely ruled out the possibility of going for the full 26.2 there, but the last long run for that would be on July 4. It will be super hot and I might have to work on both July 3 and 4. Ha. Good luck with that.

Other Races

I'm signed up for Camp Pendleton Mud Run in June, so there's that. Reader Anne (formerly known as Tahoe Girl) will be in Camp Pendleton for that so I'm very excited for that day to come. Plus, I will train for it right this time and not only will I smash my time from last year but I will beat my brother Danny. That's right buddy, I'm calling you out right now. Dem's fightin' words.

We haven't discussed the Ragnar Relay yet but I would like to run the Ragnar Relay Las Vegas again. That one is on Oct. 23-24 I think and that was so much fun last year that we all expressed interest in running it again. Maybe if we can't get a full 12 runners again we might go for filling one van and hooking up with another van in order to run it. Ragnar is awesome and I had so much fun that I'd love to do it again.

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So, there you have it, my short-term plans. They aren't complete and I might still consider other races in April, May and June but that's where I'm at right now.

I think right now I'm almost certain that I want to run the OC Marathon. I think I will just have to see how these next two weeks play out and see how badly I want it. Registration fees are 90 dollars now and won't go up to 100 dollars until March 31, so I have some time to decide.

If I run the Redlands half on April 18 and then the OC Marathon on May 2, that will be a fantastic roller coaster ride for sure.