jody

Last year I ran 3 marathons, bringing my total up to 14. This year I'd like to do more.

I spent some time yesterday looking at Marathon Guide. I think I could get on a 12 week training schedule pretty quick and be ready to go by the first weekend in April. Realistically, I could be ready sooner than that, but if I want to race a bunch this year I'd prefer to get a good base for the first one. Then I could probably race one every month. I've done races 3 weeks apart before and I think I could even go closer together if I adjusted my race pace with that in mind. So here's what I found. I can't fit them all in, but these are the mostly desirable options at this point.

April 5th: Yakima Valley Marathon
This looks nice. It's a point to point race that's not on a major road. Both pluses. The weather seems like it would be great at right around 0 - 10 degrees. (30 - 55 F) It wouldn't be too much of a road trip to get there either. The only downside, which isn't really much of one, is that I've already done a marathon in Washington so it wouldn't get me any closer to all the states and provinces. Not in a big rush for that though.

May 3rd: Vancouver Marathon
A big race in a city I like. I've done a few in BC already, but that's really not going to stop me. Very drivable distance and no borders to cross. Only thing is that the bigger races come with larger entry fees. It would be a nice place to visit though.

Also on May 3rd is the Eugene Marathon in Oregon. I haven't raced in Oregon yet and this one looks lovely. Apparently it's shaded and on river trails. They also promise it's flat and fast (although I've heard that promise before on courses that definitely were not ).

May 24th: Saskatoon Marathon. Well, I have to run in Saskatchewan at some point. I actually really loved Saskatoon when I was there for the the fringe festival. Plus, only a 6 hour drive. I could probably convince someone to go out there with me.

May 30th: Blackfoot Ultra Not sure if this race is doable this year. There are various distances but the one I think I would want to do is the 50 mile. Longest race I've done so far was 35 miles. I suppose I could do the 50 km distance that is offered, but the Calgary marathon is the same weekend as this one. I'm more likely to do that one as it involves no travel. I guess I'll see.

May 31st: Calgary Marathon Until this year, this race had always been in July. But now, May. I'll probably end up running it because it's right here and easy. And now that it's in May the weather shouldn't be so freakin' hot.

June 14th: Edge to Edge Did this race a few years ago. It's on Vancouver island. It's gorgeous. Not sure if I'll make it back this year, but I will be back.

June 21st: Mayo Midnight Marathon I really want o race in the Yukon this year. This is the first of the two I found that look really nice. This race starts at 11:45 pm. You get to run as the sun briefly dips down in the sky and then comes back up. It sounds very cool to me. Plus, I wouldn't have to get up at some ungodly early hour.

Aug 2nd: Yukon River Trail Marathon Another Yukon marathon. This one is in Whitehorse. And trails! That sounds interesting. I looked at some of the race pictures and it looked so pretty.

Aug 17th: Edmonton Marathon This one is mostly a contender because it's close. It will probably be way too hot but it's close...


I've only really looked at the first half of the year so far and haven't checked out ultramarathons yet (with the exception of Blackfoot). Maybe I'll post the rest of my options when I have time.