My Next Marathon?

Not two weeks have passed since I ran the LA Marathon and I'm already pondering Marathon No. 6.

Well, initially Marathon No. 6 was going to be the San Francisco Marathon. But I left the door open to run another marathon between LA and San Francisco, and I'm seriously contemplating walking through that door and signing up for another 26.2.

The OC Marathon is on my mind. It's on May 6 and I think I am in strong enough shape, both physically and mentally to take the marathon challenge head on once more.

One of my big goals for LA was to get through the marathon with more mental strength than I'd shown in my first four marathons. Now, I'm not going to tell you that the finish was not difficult. Mile 23 was long and Mile 24 was a challenge. I ran the last mile with a stabbing pain in my side and it took all of my will and my strength to keep going. But I kept going. I got past those challenges and really, I didn't have to knock down too many mental barriers. In other races I've succumbed to a weakening mental capacity but this time I never had to deal with that. I was strong throughout.

So I have confidence now that I can be strong for another race so soon. There are seven weeks between the two marathons, which isn't a super-quick turnaround but a quick one nevertheless. I will have enough time to take about two weeks to recover and transition back into training, which is good; then will have two weeks to log some training miles, cap that off with a 20-mile run, then three weeks to taper.

It will actually be more of a two-week taper since I have a half marathon to run on April 22, two weeks before the OC Marathon.

Anyway, I'm going to consider this a bit more but I've given myself until Friday to decide for sure. Prices go up from $100 to $110 for the full and I don't want to pay more than $100 for the OC Marathon.

Right now I'm about 70-30 in favor of running it but I want to be 100-0 before I decide. Perhaps by Friday I will have won over the final 30 percent from the no-go side.