Happy Friday!
Just a few little things. I honestly won't bore you with my walks and workouts as they are all really consistent. Yes, I'm making little tweaks here and there for growth (as well as recovery right now) but it's essentially rinse and repeat. I, however, think I have picked a marathon to be my first. I think it checks all but one of the boxes...and it might check that one too.
1. The race is in late January 2027, so there's a decent chance of cooler weather.
2. It's walker friendly. I believe they open the course at 4:30am and have something like a 9 or 10 hour window to finish. So, while I want a decent speed, I won't have my first time feeling the pressure of being swept for being too slow.
3. It's a road race. A road surface should be faster than the trail/mixed surfaces I had last weekend.
4. It's flat. Flat is also faster and good for a first timer.
5. It's a BQ (Boston Qualifier). No, I am not trying to qualify for Boston, but BQs tend to be better attended (which is more fun and positive), have better race support and better course conditions. The last thing I want is a pothole filled course like that 5k I did a couple of weeks ago.
6. It's local. If I for some reason decide I hate the longer distances and want to bail on this plan, it's not like having thousands invested in travel and potentially a pricey charity bib. It looks like they even allow you to transfer races if you later decide you're not up for the longer distance. So, money not completely wasted. It will also be easier for me to get help from family and friends if I get injured in the race process.
The only iffy thing is scenery. It's not a bad area of town, but it may be a little boring. It starts and ends at a college campus in a suburb on the south side of town and goes through a bunch of tree filled subdivisions along the way. So, there's potential for pretty. Date is still TBD but it's been run for 18 years and the preliminary info is already in all of the running site calendars. If I'm still wanting to do Dopey, it'll be before registration, so I'll know by then if I still think I'm up to the challenge.
On a related note, for training, I need to stay at the half marathon level of training until my marathon training calendar hits a long distance beyond 15 miles. It's a 29 week training program and I think it's something like week 14 where that occurs. I know that time won't come for several months, but I do eventually need to work the calendar backwards to determine that date. In the meantime, I can learn from the half marathon experience. In fact, I booked one for the end of next month to stay on top of this and keep growing. I'm excited about this one...
1. It's in Galveston and the entire race spans the Sea Wall. So, 13.1 miles directly along the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, I like a pretty view. I can even treat myself at one of my favorite restaurants afterwards.
2. It's flat and road conditions, so I should be able to test my theory about speed.
3. It's part of the Divas race series...so lots of women running in tiaras, tutus, boas, and sashes. In fact, that all comes in the registration package. I think there's champagne at the end.
4. It's far enough out that I should have recovered from this past weekend and it's a standalone race, so it's "just" one day of half marathon distance. So, no holding back. It's a 3.5 hr course limit but I've more than proved I can do that as a walker.
5. The only knock on it is that late April can be pretty warm. Still, it starts around 7am and I walk in the mornings. So, it won't be unfamiliar conditions.
