In the past couple of weeks, I've found myself thinking more and more seriously about running a full marathon within the next six months to a year, which is not something I've ever really thought seriously about. (You may recall this post...)
So why the new interest? I don't know. Maybe it's that so many of my runner friends have done it, and I feel like it's an experience that I want to have as a runner. Maybe it's so that I'll feel like I can speak on the subject with some (read: any) amount of authority. Maybe it's that recently I've finally been able to get in a reasonable amount of mileage on a weekly basis without ending up in pain. Maybe it's that I'm currently on track to break a 100 minute half-marathon this year, which should theoretically mean a Boston Qualifying time in the full if I train well and have a good race. Maybe it's a little bit of all of that. Then, on top of all of that, there's my amazing friend Teresa.
Teresa, who is a newish runner (I think she started training with some seriousness a year or two ago), recently ran the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska with Team in Training. Like me, she's dealt with some recurring injuries, but managed to train for and complete the race with a more-than-respectable time and no physical issues on relatively low weekly mileage. She came back super-excited and totally gung-ho to run another & just recently signed up for the Cal International Marathon in Sacramento on Dec. 4. She also put out the call for racing buddies -- CIM is definitely on my list of races to theoretically run, and I am so tempted! Yes, it's past the early-bird registration deadline so it'd be $105 instead of $85, but for a full marathon, that's still not too ridiculous, and it would be nice to run my first marathon with a friend. Also, you really can't beat the CIM course for a BQ attempt.
The real question (other than, "Will I be healthy & injury free long enough to put in the training?") is how feasible it is to run two long races within three weeks of each other and do them both justice. As of right now, I'm planning to run the Clarksburg Country Run Half Marathon on November 13, three weeks before CIM, so this would really mean working out a way to train for both the half and the full simultaneously, then engineering a serious recovery plan for the three weeks in between. It seems like it's do-able, but would definitely require some forethought & planning. (Then again, as Teresa reminded me today, she's running the Big Sur Half on Nov. 20, so it's difficult to use that as an excuse.)
So I'll be ruminating on that for a while. In the mean time, I had a great ten-miler today (let's not forget, only my second since October of last year), at a great and comfortable pace, with no shin splints or hip pain whatsoever, so the week is off to a good start. :)
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