Ultrarunning Boy Strikes Again!

After taking a two year hiatus from high levels of running and racing and watching Amber kick butt with back to back to back races, I have decided that I'm going to go all-in with marathon racing this year. I have already signed up, booked flights and planned vacations around the first half of my marathon season. The flight delay fiasco of Galveston may have set me back for trying to run a marathon in Texas but I have made up for it with my marathon schedule til June.  Here is the plan to date:

• March 30th- Knoxville Marathon
• April 13th- Raleigh Rock N Roll Marathon
• April 21st- Boston Marathon
• May 4th- Pittsburgh Marathon
• June 21st- Mayor's Sun Marathon(Anchorage)

I'm starving, I haven't eaten lunch since yesterday

Yikes! Those first four marathon are all within pretty much a month of each other. However, I have no intention of racing Boston and have contacted BAA to see if they have any visually impaired athletes who need guiding. I did quite a bit of guiding visually impaired skiers when I was an adaptive ski instructor out in Aspen and it was very rewarding. I think crossing the line at Boston would be probably one of the more memorable experiences of my running career.

Two of those races, Knoxville and Anchorage, I'm planning to link up with National Parks' visits; namely Denali and Kenai Fjords in Alaska and the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. I have always wanted to go to Alaska and will be trying to get the most out of my time there so the marathon is not a priority of that trip. While I did once go to the Smokey Mountains, it was while I was in high school and I'd like to see how my experiences since then will influence the views.

A third race, Pittsburgh, I plan to meet up with my buddies Rich R and Brooklyn who will be joining me for the weekend, but likely not the actual marathon. While I do plan on racing this one, this will likely depend on how much fun we have the night before. I have never been one to let a race get in the way of friendship.

The other race is Raleigh Rock N Roll which I think may be the best opportunity to run hard. The course looks slightly hilly but not terribly challenging. I will have had a nice build into Knoxville and will probably be in my best shape heading into this race. It's always a crap shoot but I think this will be my best performance of them all. Worst case scenario? I have a bad race and then get to enjoy New Politics at the finish line. Far better than suffering through Jackyl.

So this is my initial public offering for my bid for running in the ultra-running world. While I may not yet be running ultras, I plan on making my marathons ultra-epic:)