Looking ahead

I may have put in a 60 hour work week, but it's over. Woo hoo! And hopefully the worst is behind me. (Rather, I have to say that to myself because otherwise I won't go back on Monday!)

It has been almost a month since the Breakers Marathon and I am so out of it. Without a training schedule or a goal in mind I really just lose focus. When I go to the gym I wander around a bit before I decide on weights (which I ought to do since I avoid them during training) or the treadmill (which I should do to avoid losing any more conditioning).

In an effort to get myself back on track, I started researching my next race: The Little Rock Marathon.

Now you may be wondering why I'm heading to middle-of-nowhere Little Rock for a race. Well, first and foremost there's the whole 50 state goal, so at one point I will have to travel to Arkansas. Then, my good friend is in grad school in Little Rock, which means there's a futon with wifey and I's names on it (even though I doubt Little Rock hotels are expensive by NYC standards).

However, I am facing a bit of a dilemma: do I race the half or the full? I've been thinking about this for a while now and here are the pros and cons of each:

Full Marathon:

• Pros:
• The Marathon has the largest medal in road racing--hell yeah I want that!
• Start off the 09 racing season with a fun, big crowd Marathon (about 12,000 runners)
• Cons:
• I have to train through the winter, which not only means cold-ass temps, but also no water fountains throughout the city, ice patches, and less daylight (who wants to run in those conditions?)
• Then, when I get to Little Rock, it will be about 80 degree and humid--so all that Marathon training will be decimated by the weather
• Not sure how easy it would be to keep on racing in April and May after a Marathon

Half-Marathon:

• Pros:
• Shorter training schedule
• Shorter training runs (so I wouldn't have to worry about the weather as much)
• With the shorter distance I could better deal with the change in climate
• I could start of the 09 racing season with a Half-Marathon and ease into a second half-Marathon in April and then a Full Marathon
• Cons:
• No big medal for the Half-Marathon (only the Full Marathoners get the famous one pound medal)

Actually, now that I've written these all down I realize that the only reason I'd do the Full over the Half is completely for pride purposes. Since pride and showing off has gotten me no where in running so far, so I'll be going with the Half and settle for a picture of the biggest medal in racing.

Now to start building the training calendar.