Thursday, July 24, 2014

Who Am I?!

I can't even believe it, but I am actually seriously pondering putting ANOTHER full marathon on my calendar... I know, I just ran my first in May and have my second one in January (as part of the Dopey Challenge)... And now I am considering putting the Phoenix Marathon (at the end of February) on the calendar - EEKS!

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I mean really... The girl who started running less than 2.5 years ago... The girl who said she would NEVER do a full marathon... WHO AM I?! And what would possess me to do something like this?! That is something I will probably never be able to fully answer... But if you are a runner, you are more likely to understand the insanity pull on my heart shoe strings.

My thought is I could shoot for my sub-4 marathon here and then hang up my marathon running shoes for a while (easier said than done, huh?!). And at that point, especially with my Dopey Challenge training, I will already be in marathon shape.

And have you seen the elevation chart for this race?

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If there is ANYWHERE I could run a marathon under 4 hours, this could be the spot! Not that I would ever qualify for the Boston Marathon, but this course has nearly a 1,000 feet net elevation drop and is super speedy (from everything I have read and heard) which results in an insanely high number of Boston Qualifiers. It is also drivable (hubby's not sure if he will have any work events at the end of February, so instead of dealing with refundable flights and the like, we can plan to drive it and worry about the logistics later).

Not to mention the AWESOME cast of AMAZING runners that will be there - RunEMZ, The Athletarian, Pavement Runner (80% sure he's coming), JoeBRaymond, and PLENTY of other running celebrities ;)

Of course, with all the races I have on my schedule (read about my upcoming races here), there is always a risk of burnout or injury. I am hoping by switching up my workouts and keeping my body guessing I will continue to LOVE and have a passion for running long after this training cycle (I actually just ordered the PiYo DVDs through Kat over at KatrinaElle last night). I am also chatting with Krissy over at Outrunning the Monorail about setting up a training calendar to help keep my body strong and (hopefully) injury-free! If I do (heaven forbid) get burnt out or injured, the Phoenix Marathon offers a deferral option, so I could push back running the race until 2016 and not lose my registration fee.

So I guess the next step is to just pull the trigger already... As JoeBRaymond said, I have to JUST DO IT!!

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Have you run a full marathon before? Do you think I am crazy for signing up for my third? 

1 comment:

Jen @ Jen's Jots said...

I'm running the Phoenix Marathon! It will be my first 26.2 and I am so excited/nervous! I've ran the Phoenix half twice, they had the BEST t-shirt last year.