Racing Season

Racing season has definitely started here in the Chicagoland area. The "official" start is in March so we're well into the time when there is literally at least one race every weekend.

Since I belong to two running groups and have friends in the area that run, I'm constantly being bombarded with races to sign up for. I love racing. I really do. So, although at the start of the year my race calendar was clear between May and October, I've already managed to fill it up!

Here's what I've got (tentatively) planned for the next few months:

Sunday, June 13th - North Shore Half Marathon
I know, I know, I said I was going to stick to marathon training and then shorter distances. But I am not trying for time in this race. I'm trying to run the whole thing without walk breaks. I've never done that in a half marathon before.

Saturday, July 3rd - 4 on the 3rd 4 miler
In lieu of our monthly running club meeting members run this race and then have a picnic brunch afterward. Sounds good to me!

Saturday, July 24th - Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10
Both OPRC members and my lunch time running group members are running this. Remember that super hot trail run I did a few weeks ago? Yeah, same course. I'm supposed to run 12 slow miles that day for marathon training so I wouldn't necessarily "race" this. Plus, I seem to recall that I might have some birthday parties to attend this weekend...

I was also going to run the Rock and Roll Chicago Half Marathon on August 1st but I was trying to save up the $110 (!!) entry fee. However, it's now sold out at that price and there's no way I'm paying $160 (the current price) to run the 13 miles I have on my marathon training schedule. Oh well.

So instead I'm thinking about running the Chicago Half Marathon on September 12th. I've got 10 miles at a pretty quick pace on the schedule for that day anyway. That one's only $70 but I'd need to decided quickly before it sells out!

And then, of course, there's the CARA Ready to Run 20 miler on September 19th. It's not a race, just a fully-supported 20 mile training run targeted at those of us training for the Chicago Marathon.

And THEN there's one of my favorite races of the year, the PAWS 8K on September 26th. I may or may not do this one as it doesn't really fit into my training plan.

The biggie of the rest of the season, though, is, of course, the Chicago Marathon on October 10th (speaking of which, if you're one of those people who likes training plans, here's mine). After that I may be so burnt out on racing that I take the rest of the year off. Or maybe I'll run a 10K or two. Believe it or not I don't have my schedule planned out that far :-)