Decisions, decisions…which Spring marathon for me?
Christmas is now behind us, everything’s getting back to normal but I’m still unsure of my marathon plans for 2006. I’m 6 weeks into a training plan that should have me ready to race 26.2 miles at the end of April. The Frederick Marathon takes place on April 30th and I’m very tempted to return and try to beat my 2005 time of 2:59:26.
I’m also thinking of using the local Shamrock Marathon as a tune-up for the April marathon, but I’m not sure about the new 2 loop course. Running 13.1 miles twice is never easy, but it might just make a pleasant change from the old course. If I do decide to run, it will be my 5th Shamrock since 2000.
The other option I have is to run the Boston Marathon on April 17th which will be the 110th running of the world’s oldest annual marathon. It also ranks as one of the world’s most prestigious road racing events and requires running a qualification time based on your age. My only previous Boston experience was in 2000 when I finished in a fairly respectable 3:04:12 after getting caught up in the early big-race excitement and hitting the wall at around 23 miles.
Race entry fees for both Frederick and Shamrock increase before the end of the year, so I need to make my mind up soon. Also I wouldn’t like to miss out on Boston because the race cap of 20,000 runners was reached.
Decisions, decisions…
Update [Friday December 30th, 2005]:
Today I took the plunge and signed up for Shamrock. 1/1/06 is when the first price increase kicks in, so I figured today would be as good a day as any.
FYI entry fee through December 31st is $65, from January 1st - February 28th it’s $75 and March 1st - March 18th $85
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