Planning Ahead: Spring 2013

As sad as I get when a training cycle comes to an end, I am even more excited about what will be coming next. After I finished the Harrisburg Marathon I found myself with no races on my calendar except for the Thanksgiving turkey trot I'm running. With the cancellation of this year's NYC Marathon there is a good chance I will receive guaranteed entry into next year's race but that is just speculation as of now.

I tossed back & forth the idea of running the Pittsburgh Marathon in the beginning of May but wasn't sure if running another marathon so soon was a good idea. Regardless of whether I run the NYC Marathon next year or not, I still want to run a fall marathon and I worried that 3 marathons in 12 months wasn't a smart move.

While I am typically a person with a plan I try not to plan to far ahead. I try to live in the moment as much as possible. I do want to spend more time training for triathlons this year though. My ultimate goal is to do an Ironman and I think the best way to start that journey is to establish a base and get comfortable racing sprint and Olympic distance triathlons first. I also really like focusing on different things throughout the year to prevent burnout. If I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon I wouldn't have much time for triathlon training because of the longer recovery time associated with marathons.

Last spring I ran the Rock N' Roll USA Half Marathon in DC but didn't completely love this race. I didn't want to travel for a race but wasn't getting excited for any of the races around. I ran 3 half marathons in 2012 and between those 3 dropped 20 minutes. My current half marathon PR is 2:03:00 and now I am itching to break two hours.

Enter the Nike Women's Half Marathon. I found out about this race back in September but thought I would have to enter the lottery in order to get a spot. The race is also pretty pricey for a half marathon at $160. Earlier this week I found out about the college registration that is both guaranteed and only $125. Three cheers for being in college! I registered for this race hours after registration opened on Friday and am beyond excited. Spring 2013 is all about running a fast half marathon. Bring it on!