Registered for Marathon #6

Last night I sat down at my computer ready to empty out my pockets of money.  It’s a bit rude when 2/3 of your fall races all have the same early bird registration fee, no?  Without batting an eyelash, I plunked down $38 for my 8^th consecutive Sioux Falls Half Marathon.  Cheap, awesome race.  Seriously… $38! 

And then I started to do some himming and hawing over the Dallas Marathon.  My running this summer has been close to non-existent.  Between some lingering burn out, a mega intensive June class schedule, and HOLY HADES hot temps (interesting fun fact:  July 2012 posted the driest month in city HISTORY, along with the 2^nd hottest temps, behind 1930-something), I’ve yet to put together a solid week of training, let alone a solid base. 

I decided to check out the flights to see if the prices were increasing, and was surprised to see $160 staring back at me.  The 5-6 times I’ve looked in the past few months have shown me $375…….. $320 is probably the cheapest I’m going to get.  I called my bro to see if there was a specific time I should plan to fly in/out of town, and he gave me the go ahead for whenever.  I plunked in my departure times, and when it came time to pay, the $160 hadn’t changed. 

IT WAS $160 FOR THE ROUND TRIP FLIGHT.

Cue spastic dancing and whooping. 

Cue also Ollie giving me the side eye for waking her up from her 20^th nap of the day.  Gurrrrrrrrl can sleep.

I called my mom, asked her to try to replicate the pricing, as I was sure I was missing SOMETHING.  Nope $160 for her.  After quadruple checking the dates, airports, times, etc. I purchased my flight.  I somehow managed to take care of my trip to meet my sweet niece Harper, hang out with my studly nephew Harrison, see my bro and SIL, and hopefully run a solid 26.2 (for once….) for what I assumed JUST THE FLIGHT was going to initially run me.  HUZZAH.

Amped up marathon Jeri: 1.

So this week is my last week of “base building” aka attempt to get in a long run.  And at this point long run=anything higher than 6 miles (my current summer LR).  I’m hoping to have some solid training (some semblance of Pfitz 18/55 with 26.2 for funzies throw in with Megan in San Fran!), a healthy cycle (YOU HEAR THAT LEGS??!?!), and maybe be able to squeak out a PR come December.

P.S. In case you were concerned, there’s talks of creating/crafting a Team Green shirt for Ollie for the Sioux Falls Half.  No worries.  Team Green REPRESENT!

Fall Race Plans

My brain is an interesting place.  I would say one of my best qualities is that I’m able to think things through thoroughly, and very quickly.  Give me an issue or problem, I’m able to give you 6 solutions, and rank them in order of best to worst, offering up the negatives and positives that caused them to be ranked in such a way.  Because of this thinking process (or over-thinking process, as is probably more accurate), I sometimes have a tough time making decisions.

For the couple of weeks leading up to the Brookings half marathon, I started to enjoy running again.  And after the race, that only got stronger.  So much so that I started to think about the fall and what my plan was.

Just for fun, I’d like to take you through the hours long thought process that I endured.

Known Items

September 9, 2012.I will run the Sioux Falls half marathon (8^th consecutive year).  I will be doing it for completion vs. racing because the race director confirmed via email that the course route will still be jacked up for construction this season.  I value my IT bands, no thanks.

October 14, 2012.  I will run the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco with my running besties.  Since the course is hilly as I’d imagine hell to be, it’ll definitely be a race to do vs to race.

Unknown Items

Do I want to race a full marathon in the fall?

Do I want to race a half marathon in the fall?

I want to race a full marathon if it’s somewhat close to home (aka driveable), low in cost (splitting a hotel room, shacking up with a friend), cool weather, and provides me enough time to recover to complete NWM, or is enough time after NWM to be recovered for.

Just a few variables.

I made my way over to marathonguide.com knowing I’d need to find something in early to mid-September (barf) or November.  Shockingly, there are no races around here in November.  Lame.  As long as there’s no ice on the ground, I almost thinking racing in a blizzard would be awesome.

9/15/12 Northface Endurance marathon in Madison, WI.

A quick tweet to Krista confirmed that this is a trail race.  EEP!  For 6 seconds I pondered the 50k trail option.  Then removed it from the list.

9/15/12 Walker North Country marathon in Walker, MN.

I used to go on vacation up here, and it is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s.  Plus it’s NORTHERN Minnesota, so it’s gotta be cooler for mid-September right?  Plus, there’s good fishing (Kyle: 1).  Upon further inspection, the 6 hour drive seemed slightly long, but the 9am start time sealed the deal.  GROSS.  Also, I learned that approx. 5 miles of the course is on paved routes, the rest is on gravel, dirt, grass, etc.  26.2 miles is hard enough thankyouverymuch.

9/15/12 Bismarck Marathon.  North Dakota is flat right?  7:30am start time, not bad… 7 hour drive… barf.  NORTH Dakota= cold, right?  Possibility.  And then I realized I don’t really have a desire to run in ND again unless it’s flat Fargo, and a review of the course map revealed 2 giant MOUNTAINS* in the course profile.

9/23/12 Fox Cities marathon, Appleton, WI.  7am race start.  I heart Wisconsin. Could probably convince Kyle to come and turn it in to a fishing trip.  Contender.

9/23/12 Omaha Marathon, Omaha NE. 7am race start, 3 hour drive.  Cheap/free lodging at Chez Niki.  Hilly-ish course.  Possibly close enough for my family to come spectate.  Could be hot, but will be training all summer long in extreme heat, so maybe it’d be ok.  I think we have a winner.

Then I went back to if I wanted to actually race a full this year, or if I should seek out a half to finally get sub 1:50 on (yes, I’m beginning to think it’ll never happen either….. join the club).

9.1.12 Clear Lake IA

9.2.12 Green Lake WI

9.2.12 Storm Lake IA

9.29.12 Grand Forks ND

Meh.  Nothing really stood out.  I also have a rule** that I don’t spend more time driving to a race than I’d spend running it.

So Omaha it is.  I told Kyle before bed that was my plan.  No general fanfare, but still excited that I’m excited to train for one again (hi this early spring was mis-er-a-ble!).  And then I wake up to see that my brother and sister-in-law bought a new home in Dallas!

And all previous plans were thrown out the window.

Originally I had planned to do Dallas White Rock because I :

a)      Don’t have to train through the summer.

b)      Know late November/early December is IDEAL race temps for sweaty Jerbear

c)       Need to meet my precious baby niece, Harper.

But the $400-500 flight+race fee+hotel costs were putting it out of my price range.

So after all of that thought and careful consideration, one small change helps me get my way and do the race I originally wanted to do.  Ahhhh I love when life caters to my selfish ways. J

*possible exaggeration.

**often broken, but still.

Marathon Schedule 2012

I’m a very type A person.  I like to have a plan.  And it always has to be the most efficient and well thought out plan.  So when my spring marathon plans somersaulted last week, I was in a tizzy.  Emails were sent to all running buddies to see what their plans were.  I like to optimize my marathon weekend fun by joining up with runner friends. 

My first plan was Grandma’s.  Kyle has been asking when I’m going to do it (presumably so he can have an excuse to go feeshing in Duluth) and I thought Krista was going to be doing it.  And since it’s so late, I could do a half marathon in May as part of my training…..say… in Brookings!  When Krista confirmed she wasn’t running it, I moved on. 

Lincoln?  Drivable distance for my parents (maybe) and I could probably wrangle Angie to do it.  But meh.  Wasn’t really too excited about it.

So then I landed back on Brookings.  But as the full.  It’s a very small course.  Like 400 for the full and half.  But it’d be cheap.  Just gas to get there and a cheap-o registration fee, and shacking up with Megan.  And the money for Mexican food and margs afterwards, obvs.  And I thought that surely my parents and Kyle could be spectator extraordinaires.  BINGO.

This is how I landed on the decision to do my first marathon in South Dakota.  Might as well be at home when I land my first marathon time that starts with a 3.  J

Naturally after deciding on spring 2012, my mind started to work toward fall 2012.  Since I’ll be doing things el cheap-o this spring, perhaps I could spend some $$ this fall.

Think BIG:  NYC.

I think I’m going to enter the NYC Marathon lottery.  I think I’ve convinced myself that the ideal time for me to run a marathon is in November/December, as it’s typically cooler, and I’m able to train for the majority of it during the fall when it’s cooler.  AKA I don’t drown from my sweat.  Visiting NYC is on my 101 in 1001 days list, and I’m sure I’ll need another Susan fix in a year.  J

If I don’t get in, I think my back up marathon will be Dallas White Rock.  I did the half in 2009, and it was a blast.  Plus I need to go down and visit the family, since I have a new niece arriving in 2 ½ weeks.  I secretly want her to be born at the same time I’m finishing Philly.  Is that too much to ask?  Naaaaaaaaw.

So that’s my plan for the next year.  Who’s joining me???