Turns out I’m running a marathon on October 18th. Something I distinctly remember saying that I would not do this year.
Months ago I registered for the Blues Cruise 50K after much research. I scoured photos of the course and read every race recap I could find. The course was hilly but not technical (per the race website). And the terrain didn’t look technical in course photos (the leaves on the ground were hiding something). I’m a terrible technical runner. I have issues with uneven sidewalks. The Blues Cruise 50K appealed to my clumsy side…and the hills I could handle.
So for 10 weeks I logged lots of slow miles on trails (some technical), ran up and down hills, and got 2 20-mile runs under my belt. A few Sundays ago I headed out to do a test run on the course itself. I wanted to see if my hill work was adequate or if I needed to step it up a notch.
bad omen (and I was wearing blue)
Turns out my hill work was adequate and the course is technical (in my opinion)! I did email the RD to see which portion of the course was the hilliest. I didn’t really notice the hills too much since I was too busy dancing around tree roots and rocks.
So this picture does not show how technical the course was. To add some perspective – I could only manage about 11:00 minutes/mile due to all the “dancing”. Feel free to mock me and my clumsiness.
I drove home defeated and not one bit excited about the race. I couldn’t imagine running 31 miles of terrain like that. I do have access to some technical trails but not 20+ miles of them. I emailed the RD (who was awesome) and found out they did offer refunds. Score! Now I could sign up for something else…
I knew another 50K around the same time and location would be unlikely so I settled for the Monster Mash Marathon in Dover, DE. Local? Yes. Good timing? Yes. These were my top requirements. The race had decent reviews on marathonguide.com but it’s the complete opposite of what I have been training for – flat, fast, and on roads.
I am excited though. This will be my first marathon since December 2012, a few months before I got pregnant (which was oddly also a DE marathon). Might as well rip off the bandaid and get back at it! And it will be good prep for a PR/BQ in Spring 2015 (my goal).
I’ll write a whole post devoted to training soon, including the challenges I’m encountering with training post-baby.
Speaking of baby…an unrelated picture of Fiona!
In point of fact, you actually do have 20+ miles of reasonably technical trails at your disposal 😉
Do I need a compass?
Sometimes it just isn’t the right time/course/whatever and it sounds like you made the right call. Now you can focus on the marathon and hey, you’ve already got 2 20s under your belt!
Looking forward to meeting this weekend!
Posts with baby pictures are my favorite!! Fiona is so cute!! I’m glad you checked out the course, that was a smart move! Good luck with the marathon!!
Nothing wrong with changing your plans…and you have a good solid base for marathon training now!
Also, Fiona is just adorable!!!
Technical courses scare me too! That’s great that you were able to find another race to switch to and training for a hilly course will still help prepare you for flat course! And I really can’t get over Fiona’s eyes…such a cutie.
Technical trails scare me. Honestly, most trails scare me lol. But yayyy for marathons!!! I have one on October 19th, ahhh thats a whole other level of scary to me.