I am in a debate with myself as to what I should run as my feature Spring race.
I am having a hell of a time deciding if I should run the Woody’s RV Red Deer Marathon race as a Half, or schedule it for my first Marathon. I have gotten to know the Race Director through facebook and really like the idea of the pathway river valley run along the Red Deer River. On the other hand, there is the BMO Vancouver Marathon. Now this is quite the festival and a big race. The other thing going for it is the race is at sea level. BMO Vancouver RD’s are doing a heck of a job on Facebook and Twitter as well, and are making it quite attractive with their passion for the race.
So if I run in Vancouver it will be the full marathon and then 3 weeks later I’d run the half in Red Deer. If I choose to run the full in Red Deer, I won’t go to Vancouver at all.
The biggest factors in choosing are costs. Vancouver is airfare, hotel for at least 1 night and food. Red Deer is 140kms up the road and we would camp for the weekend as it is the May Long Weekend up here (we will be camping that weekend no matter what). We could make it a family trip to Vancouver, but that just triples the costs, unless we were to pull the camper out there and make it a holiday. Except for work. We are VERY busy that time of year. I wonder if it would be possible to fly out the morning of the race and fly home the same day? Or maybe I could bunk in with someone for the Saturday night. But that would suck a bit as I wouldn’t have any family to cheer me on my first Marathon.
Well. after all that, Red Deer is very much in the lead and unless a major change of fortunes (sponsorship, gifts, complimentary stuff, big BIG raise) happens, we will be enjoying a family weekend in Central Alberta with a maiden marathon runner all twisted up in nervous knots that the DW and DS will have to deal with! heh.
Here is the CRAZY Red Deer Route. And here is the Just as crazy Vancouver route. One has the Red Deer River to run along. The other has the Pacific Ocean to run along. If I had the time and money to spare, the choice would be no question, Vancouver would be it. No offence to Red Deer (I am still running Red Deer no matter, remember?)
You may wonder why I am not running the Calgary Race this year. While I have fond memories of this race because it was my first Half Marathon, and the weekend is usually super fun, I actually sort of dislike the race course. The worst part for me is the camber of Memorial Drive for 11kms. It really wears me out. we run mostly on the right side so my right foot is lower than my left and I have tendency to supinate (ankle rolls outward) on the right side as it is. At the end of the race this year I decided it wasn’t for me. I have run 4 other half marathons on different courses, and there has been a much higher level of happiness at the end of the race for those races than at Calgary. I did think Calgary was my speed course, but since running the Last Chance Half only 3 minutes slower than than my PB at the Calgary Half back in May of 09, AND running this most recent 2:01 half, barefoot, I don’t have to rely on the Calgary courses’ relative flatness for my Half PB push every year. That said, I love the organization of the race and the Expo is pretty good too, so I may just go volunteer or run the 5k or something like that…
Yeesh, that was a little longer of an story that I thought it was going to be.
Ok, back to the Race Schedule. This is sort of my dream year of racing.
| Dec 31 | Run with Martin Parnell MQ250 |
| Feb 21, 2010 | Frozen Ass 50 (I’ll run the Half, 26k) |
| Mar 12 | St Paddy’s Day Run 10k |
| April 3 | Glencoe Icebreaker 10k |
| April 16 (?) | Spring Trio 15k (or maybe 5k if I run the next day) |
| April 17 | Police Half |
| May 1 | BMO Vancouver Marathon (sponsor please) full |
| May 22 | Red Deer Marathon (Half or full, depends on Vancouver) |
| May 29 | Calgary Marathon (Volunteer or 5k run) |
| June 25 | K-100 (I would love to get on an existing team, email me) |
| July 1 | Canada Day Road Race 5k |
| July 10 | Missoula Marathon (Sponsor Please) full or half |
| Aug 13(?) | Rock the House Run 10k (My favourite race) |
| Sept 5(?) | Sheep River Road Race 10k |
| Sept 11 | Dinosaur Half Marathon |
| Sept 15(?) | Run for Sight 5k |
| Sept 18(?) | Urban Venus Run 10k |
| Oct 1(?) | Harvest Half |
| Oct 9 | Victoria Marathon (sponsor please) |
| Oct 16 | Gorilla Run 15ish k |
| Oct 29(?) | Halloween Howl 10k |
| Nov 5 | Banff Winterstart 5mile |
| Nov 13 | Last Chance Half |
| Dec 4 | Las Vegas full (sponsor please) |
hooo. I need a nap. I’ll link these tomorrow… big job… yikes. Did I ever tell you I LOVE racing?
Ok. upcoming posts are going to include my review of YurBuds, and a pair of Ryders Clear Lens glasses I tried out. I am behind on Reader mail, but I will get to that soon. I will also be having a contest for 2 Sample packs of GU (for Canada again!!)
And, just to make you really happy, the Cool Kids Run Club Tech shirts are now for sale. $30.o0 inc shipping to US and Canada. Elsewhere, shipping to be exact and billed. There aren’t very many of these Cult Icons of cool running left, so act fast to guarantee your size. Pay me via PayPal. 
Don’t take my word for it, look at these HAPPY people!! (dangly dog not included)
As seen ALL over the world!!
We also have Holiday 6packs of the Vanilla Gingerbread GU, and Mint Chocolate GU. $14.10 per 6pack, plus shipping. Let me know. nzeller at shaw dot ca
And another nice photo for you! Near Mt Kidd RV Park an hour from my house.
Aw, good luck with all the decision making. So many races, so little time.
ReplyDeleteA bunch of people from my running group are going to be doing Vancouver. I'd love to to it but I cannot leave the country next year.
Will you be running in shoes or without?? I haven't even attempted to think of a race schedule yet.. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of races. Nothing for January, I see.
ReplyDeleteConsider renting an apartment/house instead of hotel. airbnb.com is a great website for that. We used it several times and loved it. It is much cheaper than hotels and this way you can skip restaurants too.
Holy races. You're an ambitious one, good for you. I don't know how far away Vancouver is from you so I don't know if it's driving distance or not but you mentioned crashing with someone. (Assuming you're near Calgary it's like 1000miles, but...) Are you familiar with the couch surfing website? http://www.couchsurfing.org/ I've never done it myself, but have a few friends who have successfully hosted/crashed. It seems up your alley, you're a fun, likable guy. Just in case driving was possible for you or you could expand your races this way.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you really want to do Red Deer and leave Vancouver off for this year.
ReplyDeleteNeil, I would only plan on two full marathons as they can take there toll on you pretty quick unless you have seasoned up for them. If 2011 handles two ok then I would go more the following here. I would suggest making Red Deer the first one, you get three more weeks of good training weather for an early season race. Also, I may know of a spot for you to run on a K100 team since I will be doing the Chinook 1/2 IM that day now. Finally, check out my past years race schedule, I thought I raced lots but you are looking at double what I do.
ReplyDelete~Richard (www.blaznfast.com)
Your race schedule makes me tired.
ReplyDeleteMontana eh? Hmmmmmmmm...... That is almost due north of me and is late enough in the season to do well. Hmmmmm
ReplyDelete