I recently decided that my dream is to stick with running for the rest of my life. Every runner's high that hits me reminds me why I love to run, the freedom I find in running, the sense of accomplishment and pride.

But I am limited by time, money and resources at this point in life. My conclusion is that as an active runner in retirement, I will travel the world - running a road race or marathon in every new location I visit.

There is a list of international marathons here: http://aimsworldrunning.org/Calendar.htm

One day, if I can get sponsorship or have the money myself, I'll run the North Pole Marathon.

Race Plans for Fall 2009

As I'm not supposed to run this week, I'm instead making plans for the future. This will, of course, impact my summer training plans; providing only a month or two of non-race training. I intend to log around 20 miles per week while I'm not training. I want to maintain a 13-mile plus endurance for my long runs on the weekend. This will keep me in shape for a half marathon at the end of the summer. As I want to improve my times, I intend to really start focusing on speedwork and drills during the week. No more of these casual 4-8 mile jogs. I will run short distance with a purpose. If I can run faster at shorter distances to begin with, I can ease my way into faster longer distances when I begin marathon training for my fall races. I fully intend to take 30 minutes off from my marathon time next fall.

These are some of the races that I'm tentatively looking at:

• June 28th, 2009 - Charles River Run 7.5 Miler: I might drop down to a 5k, since I expect to be dogsitting that weekend and would love to be able to run the race with Bear.
  
• August 29th, 2009 - CHaD Half Marathon OR September 6, 2009 - Virginia Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon: Races are expensive, so if I'm traveling for the fall marathons, I might want to save money and just run my end-of-summer half locally. I do really want to get a special RnR medal for having run a half and full this year in the series. ChaD is intense on its hills, however, so I think it would be great to prep for some serious hill training. I also know what to expect. My parents can carry me home too.
  
• October 18th, 2009 - Denver Marathon: The MCM was sold out, so I wanted a mid-late October marathon and Denver holds promise. It's relatively flat, cool autumn weather. New city. Small with only around 2000 participants, I believe, but still well supported - a Boston-qualifier (not that I'm qualifying)
• November 8, 2009 - Maine Coast Half Marathon: It might be asking a lot to squeeze this in between two marathons, but I really wanted to race this last year. It's in York, ME. It's a women's only race. Gorgeous scenery. Local, so my family can come out to support me!
  
• November 22nd, 2009 - Philadelphia Marathon: One of the biggest races, Philly is a classic that is close, beautiful and I'm familiar with the city. Well supported. Must-run.
  

New shoes for the marathon

I've been a bad runner. A very bad runner. I've been running on shoes with too much mileage. A strain on finances put me in this position - $100 a pop every three months is brutal on the pocket book in addition to all the other expenses that add up.

I rotate my sneakers constantly, however. I have a lot less miles on my Asics Landreth 4, since they're lighter and less cushioned than my Asics Nimbus 10. I bought them as a "race" shoe, so merely broke them in and saved them up for short/fast days. These days I'm relying more upon them since they're my freshest pair.

However, with the big race coming up, I need to commit to a new pair. I've been weighing my options. The Landreth 5 came out this spring. I haven't looked into the updates, since its a less popular shoe - very few reviews and comparisons between models. I'll probably swing by Marathon Sports to see what they have to say about it, give them a trial jog. We originally went with them since I'm a neutral with wide feet. I was getting to many blisters with the GT-1230s. I got the Nimbus 10 at the same time, but they're a little narrower and heavier. I ended up getting a second pair of Nimbus shortly before the CHaD half last fall. I was still getting blisters on my second-smallest toe. Too narrow still. Instead of going wide, I actually went up to a size 9.5, instead of the 8.5/9s that I'd worn in the past. This made a big difference.

Given that I want more cushioning for the long haul, I'm leaning towards the Nimbus 10 for the marathon. But the question is when to buy. How long do I train on these older ones? I don't want injury do to older shoes, but nor do I want to put too many miles on the new ones. I suppose, again, rotation. I finally got something of a recommendation after some googling around:

Purchase a new pair of shoes that you will use during the actual event approximately four to six weeks prior to the marathon. These shoes should be the same model that you've found works well for you during your long runs. The key point here is to have sufficient time to break the new pair in (by logging 60-70 miles including one long run) prior to your race.

I feel good about this. I'm wary of the new Landreth, since I'm unfamiliar with the newest update. I don't want to commit to something I don't full know. Also, I've been running some of my long run miles on the runner-worn hard-pack dirt beside the bikeway/walking paths near the end. When I'm pavement-only running, I'm going to want that extra cushion for the sake of my knees.

My knees are my biggest worry right now. Crossing my fingers for the long run tomorrow. I'm going to map it, hydrate and head to bed!

Which marathon to run?

Now that I'm 100% behind running this spring rather than next fall (and my determination to run my first marathon before I turn 28), I'm rapidly researching for the best possible options. I have several. I have a couple of factors to consider:

- Travel and accommodation costs
- Course elevations (hills!)
- Temperature/heat
- Proximity to my half marathon on May 24th

The races that are available to me are:

Sugarloaf Marathon (May 17th)
- The goodies: t-shirt, postrace breakfast, buy-in pasta dinner, postrace massage, finisher medal
- 13 water stations
- Continuous straight course
- Scenic, mountainous course
- The first 5 miles of the marathon are flat, miles 5-10 are rolling hills with a steady two-mile climb at mile 8. The last 16 miles are downhill (I heard that they weren't really downhill)
- $55 registration fee
- ~$200 car rental
- $100 hotel

San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (May 31st)
- 60*F 6:30am start, 70*F finish
- one loop course, city running
-Goodies: concert ticket, finishers certificate, beer!, finisher medal, food & water
- Support: 26 Entertainment stages, 40 Cheerleader squads, 19 Water stations, with Cytomax at 10 water stations, 1 Gel Zone, 20 Medical tents
- $110 registration fee
- $300 airfare
- $200 hotel
- taxi costs


Lake Placid Marathon (June 14th)
- low 70s weather
- simulaneous relay and half marathon
- 2 loop course
- steep incline at end of each loop
- not a certified course, qualifier course, asphalt
- scenic, gorgeous mountainous course
- no ipods :(
- 29 aid stations: water, Gatorade drink , energy bars, energy gel, fruit, pretzels, cookies, and other energy foods. Free Post Race Athlete Food and drink are available at the Olympic Oval finish area.
- $75 registration fee
- ~$200 car rental
- ~$200 hotel

Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (June 27th)
- day after my 28th birthday
- mid-60s temperature
- simultaneous half marathon
- half-loop city running
- Boston qualifier
- Goodies: tech t-shirt, finishers medal, certificate, concerts,
- Support: aid station, bands every mile
- $120 registration fee
-~$500 airfare
- $200 hotel