Sunday, November 1, 2009

Another marathon?

You betcha! The question is which one (s).

I am 90% committed to the Catalina Marathon on March 13. My friend has signed up for it as her first marathon and I had mentioned to her that if she did it, I would do it with her. It is definitely one up there on my list of races to run. It is mostly off road with spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and a herd of bison. If is incredibly hilly and difficult. The winner usually comes in around three hours. MarathonGuide suggests counting on a finish time around an hour (or more) slower than a road marathon. A good percentage of runners come back and do this race again and again.

The big question is whether or not to run the Surf City Marathon a month before. If I do it, I should use it as a training run. But can I run a marathon without trying to PR or go for that elusive sub-four hour finish? If I run it all out, I doubt I'll recover enough to make a decent showing in Catalina. Surf City is on the beach and close to my house. It seems like a great race to do. They have a half marathon option, but I'd really like to do the full. I am thinking about signing up for the full and then I could switch it to the half if I need to.

I am in the process of writing up a training plan. I have already added hill repeats once a week. Yesterday, I found the perfect place for training runs.* My new running friends took me there. We did a great eleven mile run that started out on a bike path along the river and then headed up into the hills. We ran on fire roads that had some steep spots, just like Catalina.

So I am officially back into training mode and very excited about it. Anyone joining me??


*Although I am not sure how often I could run there by myself, since I heard rumors that there might be mountain lions in the hills.

8 comments:

Terri said...

If you check Runner's World issues over the last year or two, i think they did a really nice write-up on that marathon. It looks like it's absolutely beautiful, and I do remember them saying it was a slower race.

So is ragnar totally off? I still want to do it!! And in calif, I would really love to do it there!

If cost were not an option, i'd so be there with you for either of these races!

Unknown said...

Hmmm...since Catalina obviously won't be a PR (well, not likely anyway based on its description), mabye you should shoot for your sub 4 at Surf City then run Catalina as a just-finish-it race?

Anonymous said...

I like Amanda's advice, shoot for a PR on Surf City and then enjoy the experience and scenery at Catalina. Both races sound awesome!

Southbaygirl said...

i"m running Surf City-but only the half so I can get that medal!!! And complete the California Dreamin Series!

Catalina is hard! good on you for going for that one!!

Aka Alice said...

I'm with Penny on that one (the California Dreamin' Series)...think about it. That'd be three races w/the herd in one year.

Seriously, of the two Surf City is a more likely PR run. I hear Catalina, while beautiful, is brutal!

Of course, your completely studly and could do both!

Unknown said...

Yay for being back in training mode. I'm trying to renew my motivation. I need a maintenance plan to get me through the winter

Irish Cream said...

Hmm . . . I also kind of like the idea of running Surf City for a PR and then running Catalina just to finish. I feel like you should be able to recover enough in a month to be able to finish Catalina despite it being such a tough course.

Very exciting that you are back into training mode, though! :)

Irene said...

Catalina is lovely! That would certainly be a marathon to consider.

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