Continuing on with my thoughts about running races…

My 2014 race schedule

My yearly race schedule tends to reflect the reasons I sign up for races. I will generally have a long race (>=10 miles) in the Spring, to keep me running through the Winter, and another long race in the Fall, to push myself in either distance or speed.  I’ll usually have a few shorter races sprinkled in that sound like fun, and then I sign up for whatever holiday races I can convince family and friends to do with me.

Who wants to run the turkey trot with me?

I don’t consider myself to be a race nut, and luckily my husband keeps me in check on the rare semi-regular occasions that I decide I want to do every race I hear about. I don’t think I’d be very happy if I raced a lot more than I do now (potential future post on this?) – not to mention the impact on my bank account.

This year, I have run one race so far: Frosty Four on New Year’s Day, and I am currently signed up for one other race: The Twin Lights Half Marathon at the end of this month. When I first started writing this entry, I had also registered for the Reach the Beach Relay in September, but that has since fallen through. While this is disappointing, it has made me 100% sure that I want to choose a marathon as my fall goal. I am really looking forward to training for another marathon!

I would like to do this again, please. Where do I sign up?

I chose a Spring half so that I would have the opportunity to attempt a sub 2 hour half more than once. However, I’m not sure this will be the case because my desire for a sub 2 hour time is wavering somewhat. I do really like the distance though, so that might be enough to get me signed up for more than one half this year.

Another thing to think about is that I have a friend training for her first half marathon this fall, (she let me make her a training plan – how fun!), and she’s also running a 5k in June and a 10k in August. Both of these races sound fun, and I’d love to join her. Also, Jeff has expressed some interest in trying to beat his 5k and 10k PRs this fall, which is something I wouldn’t want to miss either.

If you add in the holiday races I’m hoping to run, that brings us to 13 races! That’s too many for me. I’ll need to start scaling this back a bit. Perhaps I can volunteer at some of these instead of running them? I’ve never done that before, and it’s one of my 2014 resolutions.

Here is my rough 2014 race list (yes, I know it’s April):

• January 1st – Frozen Four
• April 27th – Twin Lights Half Marathon
• May – Buffalo Half Marathon (This is an EXTREMELY REMOTE possibility)
• June – PRONE 5k
• August – Bridge and Back 10k
• Fall – 5k with Jeff
• Fall – 10k with Jeff
• Fall – Another Half Marathon
• Fall – Marathon
• October – Devil’s Chase 6.66 miles
• November – Turkey Trot 8k
• December – Reindeer Run 5k
• December – Run-a-Latke 5k
• And OMG, I just read about a Festivus Race in Salem!

How many races is too many races? How do I not get carried away?