looking ahead

[ilanarama]

A couple of days ago I succumbed to peer pressure - in this case, the 'peers' were my online running buddies from RWOL, many of whom are Facebook friends of mine, who were all talking up the Houston Marathon in mid-January. This year it's the day after the Olympic trials, so a lot of people are planning to go to watch the fast elites zip by on Saturday, then run a flat and fast marathon on Sunday. The other draw is that it's a lottery entry - but this year, the first 2000 people to sign up with a certified sub-four-hour marathon time, which I have, were guaranteed entry...so I did.

I'm still wondering whether I did the right thing. There are definitely pros and cons:

Reasons to and not to run Houston

TO	NOT TO
Perfect timing - can heal up, then backpack and hike and stuff in August and September, then train hard October through December before the snows hit. And ski afterward!	SEVEN MONTHS AWAY. I could die of waiting.
Known to be "flat and fast."	In other words, "boring."
Watch the Olympic trials!	For what, 30 seconds as the racers zip by?
Will see some of my online running buddies I haven't seen since Boston, and meet some I haven't met in person yet.	Will miss others who have picked different fall/winter races.
Lots of crowd support, which is always fun.	About twice as many runners as I really feel comfortable with. And no chance for an AG award.
Britt's not likely to want to come to Houston, so I get to spend all my time hanging out talking running with other runners, which would bore him silly.	Britt's not likely to want to come to Houston. I'll miss him!
Relatively cheap flight and hotel. And I already paid the entry fee.	If I'm gonna spend money to travel somewhere, why not go somewhere niftier?

I've signed up, and paid, but I don't actually HAVE to go, of course. I don't have flights yet - that's probably the most expensive part, and that will probably be the deciding point. It's kind of strange to think about running a marathon when I can't even walk without crutches yet. But it's nice to have something to focus on, to plan for, so I don't get mired in the unpleasant now of injury.

Speaking of which, back to the doctor next Tuesday. Hopefully he'll tell me everything is healing up well and fast and I can ditch the damn crutches and start running again. It's such a pain to function that I probably walk on my bad foot more than I should - if I want to get a cup of tea, I can't carry it into my office unless I cheat, for example, and since it doesn't actually HURT, especially if I walk carefully and put the pressure on my heel rather than my toes, I do a lot of cheating.

BTW, today when I got out of the pool and limped back toward the locker room on my crutches, a ~10 year old boy offered to open the locker room door for me. I thought that was super sweet (although in retrospect, maybe he was just hoping to see nekkid girls). Actually, he screwed his eyes closed when he opened the door, so everyone could see that he was NOT PEEKING, and I thanked him profusely, because getting through the locker room door is the toughest part of my workout, I kid you not. I kind of wished that I was really a fairy godmother in disguise, like in all the stories, so that I could wave my wand (cunningly disguised as a crutch) and reward him for his kindness to a poor old injured woman.

Comments

[purna]

I've heard it's fast and logistically easy. But I won't do Houston, even though it's quite nearby. When I did my year of penance there (actually, my job moved), the ozone levels nearly killed my asthma. That was about 10 years back, so maybe it's gotten better. And the Olympic Trials would be very cool to see!

I will probably be doing Rocket City in December. It's small and only 50 bucks to register and I bet you could totally win some bling there. :D

[ilanarama]

I considered Tucson, which is the same weekend as Rocket City, but decided it's just too early. I would have to train through September, which is prime backpacking season, and in the interests of staying married I want to defer my heavy training to the seasons when there isn't anything else fun to do. :-)

[blnchflr]

Your TO reasons are much better than your NOT TO :o)

Hoping you get good news at the doctor!

[ilanarama]

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Hah! I actually had a major adjustment when I came off of the crutches -- I was very much used to people doing stuff for me...

[(Anonymous)]

BTW - the above comment was Anarcha/Darkwave/Cris

[ilanarama]

People are always TALKING TO ME. They are always asking about what happened to my foot, etc. But are they doing stuff for me? NO.

And that includes my husband. Grrmph.

[racing-stripes.blogspot.com]

Houston is awesome. It's one of the best organized races I have ever run. I love the indor space for pre and post race and the food is really good. You also get a gender-specific finisher's shirt (at least I did) and it's one of my faves. Do Houston! Hoping your doctor appointment goes well.

[ilanarama]

Ooh, thanks for the recommendation! It's nice to know that somebody enjoyed the race.