Why train so hard and have nothing to show for it? That’s what I asked myself about a hundred times yesterday. The marathon is only 5 weeks away and I have yet to register. I got online to register, but before doing so, my sixth sense told me to read about the course. I swear that I had looked at the course elevation when I decided to run Charlotte two months ago. Looking at the course elevation map, it seems like there are rolling hills the entire way. Course elevation maps can be deceiving, so I did my homework. I read the runner comments on marathonguide.com and looked up last year’s results. Almost every runner comment pointed out the rolling “hills”. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind hills. In fact, I’m a fairly strong hill runner and prefer running a marathon that has a couple small rolling hills rather than one that is completely flat the entire way. But I don’t think I want to run a marathon that would be rolling for 26.2 miles, especially after putting in months of pure hard work.My goal in my next marathon (whichever it ends up being) is to run another PR and average sub-6:00 pace. I really don’t want to chance it on a course like Charlotte. With that being said, my marathon options have opened up again and I’m now looking at Rocket City Marathon and Kiawah Island Marathon, with Charlotte still in the air. I’ve heard about Rocket City Marathon being one of the best small city marathons in the nation. The runner comments for Rocket City had nothing but good things to say. Well organized, excellent race, course relatively flat, and fast times. Deciding which marathon to run is becoming a task itself. Hopefully, I’ll decide over the next couple days.
Okay, now about training. My legs felt fine even with yesterday’s long run. I ran very easy in the morning and then again in the evening.
Today’s Run: AM – 41:33 (~5M) PM – 40:01 (5.5M)
4 comments:
If your looking to PR, run the Charlotte as a training run (you might suprise yourself and PR anyway) and then pick either of the others for your all out effort.
Nice work on the doubles, doubles were a huge staple for me (33 of them during one build) when I ran a PR.
"If you're the type of runner who has to run a PR each time out, then the Caharlotte Observer Marathon, with its ever-present hills, probably isn't the race for you" from the The Ultimate Guide to Marathons.
Course Difficulty:
1. Rocket City - 3-
2. Kiawah Island - 3-
3. Charlotte - 6+
Above are my choices in order if you must PR. Rocket City will probably cater more to faster runners and more faster runners will be there to work with. I highly recommend the book as it's loaded with stats to help you decide.
Phil - all 3 marathons are on the same weekend and I'll most likely peak right on time for them. I really don't want to run a marathon as a training run.
Mark - thanks for the course difficulty stats. You brought up excellent points about Rocket City. There will more runners running about the same pace as me and I'll be able to work with them.
It might be fun to go out and try and win the Kiawah Island marathon. It looks like a sub 6 pace would have won it last year. I'm sure you can count on a few people to challenge you if you're running up front.
Good luck with your decision!
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