Monday, March 3, 2014

Spring 2014 Race Preview

I jumped the gun a bit by mentioning my Fall marathon plans before really getting into what other races I'm doing this year. While the Summer and Fall are still a bit up in the air due to the desire and need to devote time to training for the Wineglass Marathon, my Spring plans are now set.

My first race of the season is the New Bedford 1/2 on March 16th. My dear friend Lauren has invited me up to Massachusetts for run this race for a couple of years and I was finally able to make it work, thanks in part to her wonderful hospitality and some frequent flyer points. It sounds like a great race in a lovely seaside town, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've really been focused on my training for this, too. I had a GREAT 12 mile training run this past weekend, and am hoping it means it'll be a strong race for me. Now just to start stalking forecasts and hoping that the weather will cooperate as well. It's definitely been a tough winter here and in New England.

I then have a couple of weeks off before the real fun begins, my first double weekend. I'm going to fly out to St. Louis and run the Lincoln Presidential 1/2 Marathon on April 5th and the Go! St. Louis 1/2 Marathon on April 6th. I've wanted to do the Lincoln race for some time, and didn't know when travel plans were being made that there was a race scheduled in St. Louis that weekend as well. While it may take me 20 years to qualify for the Fifty States Half Marathon Club, the possibility of knocking out races in two states over one trip was too appealing not to do so. I currently have 9 states plus the District of Columbia.

I'll then wrap up the Spring with one of my favorite races, the Frederick 1/2. If all goes well between now and May I may really try and push my time on that one, but it's obviously far too early to predict that right now.

So, what didn't make the cut? For starters, the Run for the Dream in Williamsburg. This was a tough one to cut, as this is the 4th year for the race and I've done all of them up to this point. Plus, it is one of my favorite places to visit. The decision simply came down to a matter of timing and money. While it would have fit into my race calendar since I have nothing planned for late May/early June, it's just simply been too warm most years I've done it to really enjoy the experience.

Also out is one of my favorite local halfs, the B&A trail. It was in mid-March last year and I was hoping it would move back to its traditional first weekend of March. Instead, it moved to the last weekend of the month, and therefore right before my double in the Midwest.

I'm really excited to travel around this Spring and looking forward to new race experiences!





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