M is for Marathon

Anyone remember when I said 3 marathons in one year was too much and there was a chance I'd run 3 in 2012? I thought carefully about that. 3 marathons in 2012 it is.

At some point, I said I wouldn't double down on my training and run 2 back-to-back marathons again (did 2 in 10 weeks last year, got injured in between, and had a mentally bad second marathon). Yeah, I thought carefully about that too. 2 marathons in 27 days it is. I am not the only one who qualified at Shamrock who is also running Gansett. Excellent. More crazy runners.

I also said I wouldn't train through the winter for a marathon again. Yet I did it and it was better than I expected. Much much better than last winter. Wait, what winter? It was the mildest winter in a long long time. It barely snowed. I only needed my soft shell jacket once. I only needed a fleece once or twice. I had some runs that required no cold weather gear. The bike path where I do my long runs stayed clear the whole time. I only had to adjust my running route because of snow a handful of times.

Now that Shamrock is all wrapped up, these were my spring race plans. There were a select few people who knew about my Plan A. I didn't want to jinx it. I had Gansett on my radar but couldn't commit until I saw how I did at Shamrock. Plan A it is!

Plan A (under 3:35): Run the Gansett Marathon on April 14. Maybe run the Frederick Half Marathon in Maryland on May 6. I am signed up for Gansett (this is how organized this race is ... I was in the list of registered runners within hours of registering). Still not sure about Frederick. Dunno if I want to race again after doing 2 marathons in 27 days.

Plan B (3:35:01 or over): Run the Long Island Marathon or Cox Providence Marathon. Both are on May 6. I have family in both locations, so my only costs would be the entry fee and transportation. Or maybe the half for either. Or the Frederick Half if I didn't want to travel. A spring half would mean I'd have to put all my eggs in the Marine Corps Marathon. I probably wouldn't be able to qualify for Boston for 2013. Long Island is mostly flat. Cox was a mental disaster last year. I am a Cox legacy, though, and didn't want to give that up. Either marathon would have been a decent but not optimal choice for another BQ/GQ attempt. Thankfully, I don't have have to go that route. I'm kinda done with traveling for a while.