Grandmas Marathon

Last Wednesday, I may have temporarily lost my damn mind. I was feeling wistful about my winter/spring training cycle and feeling a little bummed with how my race turned out. That led to my brain thinking about 26.2 miles and considering Grandma's Marathon in 2018. I went on to the website to see when the race was in 2018, and realized that 2017 wasn't yet sold out.

Wait.

What?!

[insert gears starting to turn here]

If my legs recovered from this half, asap, I could squeeze in two long-long runs and a taper to do Grandma's. My training for the Brookings Half was really strong, with consistent weekly mileage, and mid-week long runs. At one point, Toni and I were on a run and I told her the only difference between our training and marathon training was that our long runs were 2 hours on the weekend instead of three. Hmmm.....

I sent a text message to Toni expecting her to jump right in. AND SHE SAID NO.

What?!?!?

This was unexpected. She's gone along with all of my crazy hair-brained ideas for the past six months, and is even on board with my insane 3 year running plan for us. No?! I'm sorry, I'm unsure what that word means.

[It should be noted that at mile 11 of Brookings, I thought, VERY LOUDLY, as thoughts often are during a run/race, that I was SO THANKFUL that I wasn't running 26.2 miles.]

We went for our run, my first since the half, and my left knee hurt. I mentioned to Kyle that I was considering running a marathon in a month, and he said no (to be clear, I never listen to him and his opinions, but it was worth noting, I suppose), and I'm scheduled to work that weekend. All signs point to no.... I think.

I think I'm just bummed that I didn't hit the time I feel like I was capable of for Brookings, and wanted to use my training for another goal. I should be (and am) excited about taking 11 minutes off of my time from 2016 to 2017 on the Brookings course, AND that's in 20 degrees warmer. It's also 4 minutes faster than my half in October on a much cooler day as well.

The next time I toe the line for a 26.2 mile race, I will do so with the confidence and training to back up a PR marathon effort. So I just need to remember that every mile between now and then helps to work toward that goal.

Spring Marathon?

Last year when Krista did Grandma's Marathon, I vowed that I'd be doing it for 2015. My training cycle for Bemidji taught me that I still have some form issues and muscle imbalances that I need to tend to before I attack another big training cycle. The flights to Duluth are currently $900+ and I just don't know if I can hack the long drive on my own.

[Edited to add: I googled the drive length and was surprised to learn it's a little less than 6.5 hours, instead of the 9+ I had thought it was. Hmmm.....]

I tend to reserve the spring season for half marathons and shorter races because it's prime racing season around here, albeit it's a pain to train through the brutal winters. I like the idea of Grandma's because it's not until mid-June.

The other idea I was tossing around was an abbreviated training cycle. One of my best training cycles was for the Philadelphia Marathon when I was in amazing half marathon shape, and did a six week training cycle, one 16, 18, and 20 and it was taper time. It worked great because there was no time for excuses and it didn't wreck my body. I just got in the distance to know that I could complete 26.2 on race day, but not week after week after week of 3 hour runs to cause me injuries.

So that's the crazy idea I'm currently tossing around. There are seven weeks between the Brookings Half and Grandma's, allowing me a recovery week and then the short cycle. I still have plenty of time to decide, but if I find myself jealous of everyone's long-long runs once this spring rolls around, I'm glad I have a plan.

Now to start convincing Susan, Alyssa and others to join me.....

Race Weekend Dibs

Chelsea and I are training for a marathon a week apart this fall. This spring we had the same half marathon goals and several half marathon attempts. Being a fellow Packers fan, she sent me a message on twitter recently asking if I was planning on running the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon.

Well. Hmm....

I guess I was throwing around my race intentions for Fall 2015, why not think about Spring 2015?

After Krista ran her killer race at Grandma's, I immediately wanted to run Duluth in 2015. Ok, I REALLY wanted to run Grandma's this past spring, but knew I wasn't going to be marathon ready, so I didn't. Even though I REALLY wanted to. Did I mention I REALLY wanted to??

Duluth is like a trillion miles from South Dakota.

If I did Grandma's, Green Bay would be a perfect half marathon race predictor for marathon race day. But that would be an additional 16 hours of driving, total. Uff.

But my favorite thing ever is fun race weekends with runner friends. And despite having never met Chelsea, she *is* one of my running friends, as weird as that may be.

So I think I'm going to try really hard to make Green Bay work. If I can snag a really cheap flight to Green Bay or Duluth, I think I can handle the drive for the other one.

So now's your chance to convince me to come on a race weekend with you. And if you're Danielle trying to get me to come to Maine, still, please accompany your convincing with an airfare under $500. <3