Monday, December 5, 2011

Marathon decisions, decisions - which road shall I travel?

I've already mentally committed to the idea of running a marathon this spring.

According to my training program, the ideal date would fall around the first week of June but I'm pretty sure that it's so far out I could probably cheat a few weeks sooner…

So now it's just figuring out what to run.

If money were no object, I would have already signed up for a 'racecation' with Lesley and head to Seattle for the RNR one - that sounds very cool!

But then Jen recommended one in Maine -- it's a mid-May one and that one could work because then my husband could come with me, we could drive up for the weekend.

They are two entirely different races too.  The Rock and Roll races are HUGE events with thousands of runners. The Sugarloaf race in Maine looks beautiful but small and cozier.

I would LOVE to do the Jersey Shore full - as the half was my first race I ever run and it holds a special place in my heart. Plus it's close to home -- the issue with that one is it's the first weekend of May and a whole month earlier than the training program i'm doing says I should race.

Decisions, decisions.

What are you racing this spring?

XO
Jen

PS: In other news - Weight Watcher peeps with iPhones might be excited (like I was) to learn that their App will soon allow members to scan barcodes of foods and instantly get the points values. I'm (such a dork) but pretty excited about it.  Thanks Baby Weight My Fat Ass for telling us about it!


14 comments:

BabyWeightMyFatAss said...

lol I was so excited I let out a little "yay!!!" lol. I r 2 lazy to type in those numbers! LOL

Teamarcia said...

Oh decisions, decisions! I have no fulls on my plan for spring....for now...
That Seattle race looks cool! I'm not a huge fan of RnR but still.
Good luck figuring it all out!

Unknown said...

LOL - BabyWeight I'm so happy that you caught my shootout to you! I was pretty psyched to see that!

Thanks Teammarcia - we'll see. I'll have to make up my pro - con list one of these days.

RunToTheFinish said...

i've done seattle and personally I'd vote for sugarloaf....seattle as a city is nice, but the race course...ehhh lots of highway

Unknown said...

Thanks for the feedback Amanda! That's helpful. I'm leaning towards Maine a bit because my hubby and I can drive up there together and we can probably plan it a little bit less expensively than if I were to travel cross country but we'll see.

The Skårtist said...

um, did you notice that the logo for the sugar loaf race is a very pointy MOUNTAIN?!!! Did you check the terrain on that one?

I have the perfect one for you. Ottawa. It's the weekend of May 26-27, It's the same drive time as Main. About 7 or 8 hours (depending on how fast you drive)

It's relatively flat. It's great scenery. Lots of nice people (i.e.:Canadians). And if feels like a total race cation because you are in a different country. If you book now, places to stay are relatively inexpensive and I think the canadian dollar has gone down again.

Only draw back is you have to learn to think in km. cause that's how the race is marked. But no biggie.

check it out:

http://www.runottawa.ca/

Mandy said...

I love the comment on the Sugarloaf logo! Ha! From their website, the course sounds pretty, that one may have to go on my list of races to do some day.

I only have half's on my schedule for Spring - plus the whole mountain climb thing at the beginning of Summer.

Suz and Allan said...

Pretty sure you just made my day with the WW app news!

Anonymous said...

You know I want you will me, but you could be ready by early May for the one you want. I agree, would be cool to return to your first half. If you want, send me your schedule, and I'll suggest some edits to work it out for early May for ya.

Unknown said...

thanks all --

Mandy - LOL, the pointy mountain comment made me laugh too. I have no interest in running up a mountain! HA.

Suz -- I know… Right? How exciting is that WW App! ;)

Thanks Lesley, I think that might be the way to go. It would be my 3rd year returning to that race and it's always a good one. Super organized, beautiful, great support and close to home. Maybe with the money i'd save, I'll spring for the fancy package the host hotel offers (all kinds of massage and VIP stuff) post race and hubby and I can make that a 'close to home' racecation weekend. Hmmm.

Kelly said...

I live in Maine, so I'm going to say Sugarloaf even though I've never heard of that marathon. Sugarloaf is beautiful though, so I'm sure you'd enjoy it. There's another Maine half/full marathon combo in October in Portland that's pretty popular. My husband ran it a few years ago and said it wasn't too bad, and he's not a marathoner.

Unknown said...

oh my goodness those are tough ones to pic! I love Seattle so that would be fun but if I picked form the tree I would say Sugarloaf seems amazing!

Summer said...

Jersey! Jersey! I say that selfishly though because I hope to do that race and it would be cool to read about your training for it specifically. Your post race pampering plan sure sounds nice, although Sugarloaf looks to be pretty cool :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for the votes guys -- I think I've narrowed it down to Maine or Jersey... I might be leaning towards Jersey (Let's do it Summer!) I have to talk to hubby about it and see what he thinks, though that Maine still looks sooooo gorgeous!!