My Definitive 2008 marathon plans (maybe)

Marathon plans recap--for those of you who haven't had a chance to follow along.

In the beginning of this year, Steve (Runner) and I decided to do a fall marathon together. Then, Steve (Runner) got injured and the plans were scraped. So, I decided to aim for the Columbus marathon in October. After all, my wife has a friend out there that we could visit and she could spend hours about hours of quality time with her friend as I'm out there having fun running a marathon. Then I got injured.

Then I got better. And Steve (Runner) got better. So, he wanted to do a marathon together again. He preferred Philadelphia, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I didn't want to wait that long so I suggest OBX marathon, the beginning of November. He agreed that would be a good possibility. A week later, he contacted me and said, the ankle was still bothering him and, maybe, it would be a good idea if he just did one marathon this year, Bay State. It made sense he didn't push himself and we would wait until next year as we look for a special marathon next year to celebrate my 50 years of existence on this earth. So, by mid-August, I was a man without a marathon. All caught up? Good. I will continue my saga.

The more I thought about it, the more intrigued I was about doing the OBX marathon. (http://www.obxmarathon.org/site3.aspx). My biggest hestitation was how much shade there was going to be on the course. I assumed the course would be hugging the shoreline and, last time I checked, there weren't too many flowing palm trees lining the beaches of North Carolina. But, I did some research and it looks like the marathon is not totally run on the shoreline. But, without someone sharing the cost of accomodations, it may be more expensive than I want to pay at this point.

So, I looked to see if there are any other marathons, around the same time, in my general area. Sure enough, there is the Harrisburg marathon (http://www.harrisburgmarathon.com/) run on the same day as the OBX marathon. Harrisburg, PA is about a two hour drive from my house. I would just need a one night stay the night before the race and the price of entry ($45) was right. Plus, Melissa, a fellow Blue Dawg, is thinking about running this race as well. It would be nice to relive the marathon with a friend. Still, I love the beach. And going down to the Outer Banks for a long weekend does sound nice. And, I have gone down to NC for business so maybe I can tie that in somehow?

So, as of now, I plan on running a marathon on November 9. I am training to run a November 9 marathon. Which one? Umm, I'm still not sure. Both are smaller marathons. OBX has around 3500 people, Harrisburg has 800 people. 800 people? The Tex-Mex 5k race in North Wales, PA in June had over 1000 people!!! I've only run one small marathon, and that was the Cape Cod marathon, which had around 1500 people. Everything else has been 15,000+ people. So, no matter which one, I will still get pretty lonely out there.

As of now, I am leaning towards Harrisburg. Until I do the math of how much it would cost me to go to OBX. I don't have to make a decision today. (As a matter of fact, if I read this correctly, I can sign up for Harrisburg, the day OF the marathon!!!! Who the heck gets up in the morning and says, 'Hey, nice day! I think I'll run a marathon before raking the leaves!)

So, definitive decision--I will be running a marathon on November 9. I have given myself until October 7 to decide which one.

(Notes: I posted a new poll this week asking 'what is your deciding factor in purchasing a new pair of running shoes?' This was based on a conversation with Melissa when we were running 6 miles around Lake Galena a few Sundays ago. It got me thinking how people choose their running shoes.)