He doesn't choose, we do.
I don't ponder on that very much. the question for me is do I want to race a marathon? After that, if it's local, well measured, flat (or descending ) it's good enough. I might start "collecting" race medals some day, but for now I don't really care about that.
I also have, in the back of my mind, a 100K road race that might be interesting. The good part would be that I would not have to train (workouts) for that. Just run a lot.
On the other hand it would be a difficult race, one in which I might hurt myself. Plus I don't know if it's full yet.
is the weather usually cool?
Super B****
This is the biggie for me -- though I guess it worked out well the two times I ran Suffolk. I like to sleep in my own bed the night before a marathon.
chasing the impossible
because i never shut up ... i blog
Former Bad Ass
Damn right.
Damaris
Maybe not ideal, but not bad. I ran the HM once, and the full last year. Both times the temp was 55 at the start, and last year it was raining.
The cheater's marathon I'm registered at in the fall had better temps, but that might change. It used to be end of October, and the last two years it was 32 at the start. But the organizer flies in Africans, because he wants the Canadian marathon record to be beat on his course, and Africans are stiff and freezing at 32 degrees. So this year it will be on October 4th.
I have never slept in my own bed before a marathon. Maybe that's my problem!
7 miles with 1 mi, 2 x 0.5 mi, 2 x 0.25 mi and 0.25 recovery jogs. I was slow getting out there which meant the last 3 miles were in the daylight!! Of course I paid for it during the drive into work.
My company has banned work travel to China as well as non-essential global travel. Methinks I might not be heading to Japan in March after all.
You might be on to something there, since the only marathon for which I did not sleep in my own bed the night before was Boston, and that's the only marathon I've ever run that wasn't a PR...
I've slept in my bed in all but 2 races (marathons, both times). One of the two was a fairly local race, but I had to go get my bib on the Friday or Saturday and race on Sunday (no bib pick up on race morning). On a Sunday morning it's like a 30-40 minute drive, but on Saturday afternoon it's more like 1:00 - 1:15 both ways, so I decided to take a hotel room and spend less time on the road.
The other one was Boston.
I feel like it's hard to travel for a race and feel good on race day, especially when it involves air travel.
I also find it hard to get excited about the two local marathon options
Ha! Unfortunately, that means I have 2 marathon options and neither are desirable: SD RnR (IN JUNE) or Carlsbad in Jan which is rolling hills forever along the coast. I've done the HMs for both and they broke me.
Obviously you need to move. (I only have two options, too, but they're both decent, luckily for me! There would be more if I weren't forced to eliminate all the Saturday races.)
I have done both and sleeping in bed is better BUT I have to wake up earlier than while I am traveling. Still, I do sleep at home vs wake up 30000000 times elsewhere.
Obviously you need to move.
Yes! San Diego is obviously a terrible place to live, because there aren’t enough marathons run there.
I feel like my local options are somewhat limited. There are a handful, but mainly either races I’ve done and have no interest in repeating, or races I’m not super excited about doing. They have the downhill tunnel races (several each year on the same course), which people love for fast times, but I’m not quite sold. The big one is RnR Seattle, which is super hilly and in June so likely warm. It’s a big event so might be fun if I didn’t GAF about my finish time, but I have yet to sign up for one with that in mind.
Incidentally, of 12 marathons, all different races - 6 were home, 6 on the road. I haven’t noticed a direct correlation to performance. I think it’s just one of the many factors influencing how you do.
Dave