Cowboy Hazel

2010 is going to be fun. I've spent the past couple weeks scoping out races and compiling my calendar. The two big focuses for the year are getting comfortable with the marathon distance and running competitively in my first two 50 milers. I might draft out more concrete goals as far as time, placing, mileage, etc. closer to the end of the year, but the gist of it is that I'm not going to worry too much about improving on my marathon time but instead just run a bunch of them and enjoy it. The serious time goals will be on the 50 milers. So, without further ado, here's the (unlaminated) list:

February 21st - HMRRC Winter Marathon - Albany, New York – This is going to be a blast. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about finding a race within driving distance where I can run for a few hours in the mid-winter snow with a couple hundred other folks as crazy as me.

April 19th - Boston Marathon - Boston, Massachusetts – This is probably the race I'm least excited about out of all of them. I hate the city of Boston, I can't stand those annoying people with their fluorescent BAA track jackets, and there's going to be so many people faster than me that no matter how fast I run, I'll be lost in the masses. But, it's kinda one of those things you have to do once. Or at least it seems that way. Plus, I'll get to see a bunch of runner friends that I haven't seen in a while. So, I guess it's not all bad.

May 2nd - New Jersey Marathon - Long Branch, New Jersey – I thought about doing this one in 2009. It's close to home, a flat course, and I've heard more positive things from people who've ran it than negative.

May 30th - Vermont City Marathon - Burlington, Vermont – This one is tentative. I've heard great things about the course and know from GMR how beautiful Vermont is, so I'd love to make it up there. But, it's really close to Lake Placid (schedule) and kinda far from home (distance). We'll have to see how the legs are feeling and how full the wallet is when spring gets here.

June 13th - Lake Placid Marathon - Lake Placid, New York – I've never had much of a chance to explore upstate New York, so it will be good to explore another part of my new home state. The two loop course sounds nice and scenic. And my time from Philly would have put me at 6th place overall in 2009, so if I decide to push for another fast time, this will probably be the race.

July 3rd - Leadville Trail Marathon - Leadville, Colorado – This one's gonna kick my ass. I'm not great with trails, elevation kills me, and I haven't yet mastered running in the summer heat. Oh, and there's a few hills there too... But, it will be a good chance to go back home and visit the family. Also, it will be good to start experiencing some more difficult conditions at the shorter marathon distance.

July 25th - San Francisco Marathon - San Francisco, California – I'm long overdue in visiting my family out on the west coast and so I'll try to coordinate the trip with SFM and use it as a training run for Lean Horse.

August 22nd - Lean Horse Half-Hundred - Hot Springs, South Dakota – My first 50 miler. I'm super excited about it. The course looks great and it's within driving distance of my family so I'm hoping to get some support from them out there. It'll be warm but, again, it's good practice...

September - Yonkers Marathon - Yonkers, New York – Another race I wanted to do this year but didn't. It's close to home, cheap, and if it's the same time as the 2009 edition, it will fit into my schedule perfectly.

November 7th - New York City Marathon - New York, New York – You may have heard of this one. It's kind of a big deal. I missed qualifying on time by a couple minutes, but I'll get in on the 9+1 program. It will be fun to finally get to run all 5 boroughs at once. I'll be taking it really easy, though, in taper mode for JFK.

November 20th - JFK 50 Mile - Hagerstown, Maryland – This is going to be the main focus of the whole year. I want to take the knowledge from Lean Horse, along with the endurance that a whole year of aggressive running will bring, and combine them to form a solid, competitive run down in Maryland.

I'd love to head out to Chicago too, but I just don't see how I could swing it. This is going to be serious bucks already. Plus, I think a break from races while I'm gearing up for JFK will be helpful. For the first time in 3 years, I won't be running the Philadelphia Marathon or Bolder Boulder. That makes me sad, but it's unavoidable. I'll toss in a few halves and shorter races here in the city. And, I hope to make it back to GMR, but we'll have to see how the finances are going. It's really too bad that I can't just quit my job and travel around the country running. Anybody want to sponsor me? Or at least carpool?