Decisions, decisions

Today was another reminder that winter isn't over here in Hog Heaven.  It is cold and brisk, if sunny.  At least it was still sunny early in the day when I went out for a 7-mile maintenance run.  Again, since I'm coming off a 24-mile LSD on Thursday, I took this one slow and easy.  The good news is that I seem to be completely recovered from my effort on Thursday.  Tomorrow is cross training.  

Time's a wastin'.  I still haven't decided which (long) races to schedule for later this year.  I'm registered (and training) for the May 6 Colorado Marathon.  After that, who knows?  The problem is that several popular races that I've been considering begin (and end) registration this month.  (The Colorado Marathon is capped and usually closes early too, but I knew last fall that I wanted to run it.  Good thing since it closed before Dec. 31.)

The ever-popular Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. opens registration this week: March 7.   The Marathon takes place on October 28 meaning that decisions have to be made almost eight months in advance.  Even though it's the fourth largest U.S. marathon and the 9th largest in the world, last year's marathon sold out in just 28 hours.  So, you can see the dilemma for runners: either decide within a couple of days or miss out.   Since I don't see myself deciding by Wednesday, I'll likely be left out.  For those who are interested, here's the site: http://www.marinemarathon.com/

One week later, the equally popular Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon opens registration: March 15.  The Pikes Peak races are on August 18 (Ascent) and 19 (Marathon).  Registration is capped at 1800 for the Ascent and 800 for the Marathon and usually closes within days.  I'll probably miss that deadline too.  But, for those who are interested and more decisive, here's the link:  http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/entry.htm

Fortunately, my other alternatives--North Face Endurance Challenge in Madison, Wisc.; the Quad-Cities Marathon in my backyard; and the Amica Seattle Marathon in my son's backyard--remain options.  The North Face events are capped, but registration for the Madison venue did not close last year.  The other two are not capped.  The North Face Endurance Challenge events can be found here: http://www2.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge/  The Quad-Cities event here: http://qcmarathon.org/

I'm also waiting to see what happens with my son.  Right now, he doesn't know where he'll be and what he'll be doing this fall so he can't make plans.  If he's going to be out of the country over Christmas, we'll visit him for Thanksgiving.  If we're going to be out in the Seattle area over Thanksgiving, we might as well run the marathon.  The link for it is here:  http://www.seattlemarathon.org/  I ran this race last fall and swore that I'd never run it again.  But marathons are a bit like child birth.  Or, so I hear.  It doesn't take long to forget the bad parts and savor the good parts.  The race itself is well-organized and run.  The weather on race day last year was nasty: cool, rainy, and windy.  (But, it was fall in Seattle.)  And, there are a couple of wake-up hills in the second half.