To Run or Not To Run?

Have you ever found a race that has a great location, sounds great, & the distance will fit into your training schedule and you just can’t make up your mind to do it or not? And if you are going to do it, what distance should you do??

I recently found the Fox Valley Marathon / Half Marathon and Fall Final 20 (fv26.com) – This race starts in my home town (perfect location!), received great review, has medals, and a nice course (great race!), is 9 weeks after my ½ Marathon this summer (great timing for training), and the cherry on the top is that is falls exactly on my birthday (which doesn’t fall on a weekend day (prime racing day) again until 2018)!

Great location? Check! Great Race? Check! Great Distances Offered? Check! On My Birthday? Sold! Let’s do this!

Now to the next questions….what distance --- ½ marathon, 20 miler or full marathon? (They offer a Race Flex option, where you pay $125 now and decide when you pick up the packet. The marathon is $95, 20 Miler $85 and ½ marathon $75, so it’s a tad more to do the flex option*). Each of the distances have pros and cons and I have gone over the list again and again and again and again….

½ Marathon ($5.73/mile or $9.54/mile for Race Flex Option):

Pros:

It’s a long enough distance to continue to challenge myself this summer, but not as time consuming as a full marathon

I’m already signed up to do this distance in July, so this will allow me to improve on my time, which translates in to speed work, which will improve my overall speed for other races.

If the July race doesn’t work out, then I have a second opportunity to complete a 13 miles in ’13.

I will be turning 31 in ’13 and running 13 miles….lots of 1s and 3s!

Cons:

I’m already signed up to do this distance in July, so I will have already have done this time - Will I be challenged enough in the weeks in between to?

20 miler ($4.25/mile or $6.25/mile for Race Flex Option):

Pros:

Just a tad longer (although I’m sure those last 6.9 miles do not feel like a tad when you are doing them), so it’s a manageable jump in distance

Would double my distance from the 10 Miler I’m doing in the spring. This year I went from 5k to 10k and next year it could be 10M to 20M.

Cons:

It’s just a tad longer than the ½ marathon, but will it be long enough for me to feel challenged?

I’m just not that excited for it. It seems like if I’m going to pay to do a 20 mile race, why not just do the last 6 miles (and if need be I could crawl them) and do a marathon? (I’m not trying to put down 20 miles because it is a FAR distance as well!, but this just doesn’t seem to excite me….)

Marathon ($3.63/mile or $4.77/mile for Race Flex Option)

Pros:

It’s a huge challenge and would be amazing to complete – it’s a FREAKING marathon!

How many people can say they did a marathon on their birthday?

It’s a new distance and as it’s in my home town, I would have a lot of cheerers on the race.

Cons:

It’s a FREAKING marathon! For someone who just started running last year and raced her 1^st 5k in July 2012, adding another 23.5 miles to that seem like a huge amount

Some of the comments state that there are parts of the race where you are alone, will I have the motivation to keep going at these points?

There a ton of training for it and I’m not sure I’m ready to commit to putting in the mileage (and I know this is a HUGE con). Marathon training is completely doable, but is time consuming.

Race Flex option:

Pros:

It will allow me to see how I do on the ½ marathon and decide then if I want to continue to a longer distance or if I’m great with this length.

I keep going back and forth and this will allow me to decide later

I will have already completed a ½ marathon, so I will know if that is a far enough distance for me.

If something happens (weather, injury, etc), then I could complete the 1/2 marathon instead of not starting.

Cons:

It’s more money and I will be able to do another race (or two) with the $50 saved.

I’m not sure if I’m ready for a full-marathon and might feel pressure (all internal) to complete the marathon when I had to make a decision.

It would make planning more difficult with three training schedules to create/follow

Currently, I’m about 85% sure that I will do the ½ marathon, but am not ready to commit yet. I keep thinking… “Oh, a marathon sounds great!”, but I’m just not sure that I’m at that level quite yet, I’m not sure if I’m willing to commit the time to training, I’m not sure if I will have the self-motivation to keep moving on those last miles….I guess you can say, my heart isn’t 110% in it….yet. Could it get there? I then think, “Oh, the 20 miler isn’t that much longer, I could do that!”, but then am not that excited about it……so that’s back to the ½ marathon, and the circle start again.

So, after a long (somewhat rambling) post…what do you think? Have you ever been unable to decide on the distance? Do you have any advice?

*Prices are set to increase on 1/31/13