As I have been thinking over and over again what I would like to do for running next year, I was torn. I would really like to run another marathon next year, but I have told myself that I am not training for one over the summer again. Next summer is going to be reserved for half marathons or shorter distances, biking (hopefully STP with Brent), backpacking and wherever else the summer takes me. After the NWM, I was going to find a marathon sometime in May or early June. This would give me some time off from training before I got back into it. Well, a great opportunity came up for Brent and I to go to Nepal with our church family for a mission trip. We were also considering going to Europe in late September or early October. What to do? This left us unsure. We’ve been wanting to go to Europe in celebration of our 5 year anniversary for a few years now. We decided to pray about it. Well, we decided on Nepal. Europe will have to wait for another time.
Now what about my running? I was making myself anxious about making a decision on what to do. Nepal would be in the middle of May. I’d either have to find a marathon before that or one right after we got back, so I could do my tapering in Nepal. What if I can’t run in Nepal for even a short distance? My search began. I found 3 options if I really wanted to accomplish this before heading over to Nepal. There was another marathon in San Francisco the weekend of my birthday, a marathon down in Salt Lake City or an ultra (50k distance) in Spokane. These were all practical places for me to go because they were easy to get to. San Francisco is a short cheap flight away. I decided that if I head down there again, especially if it is just a short weekend, I would just spend the time with my friends. Salt Lake City then? Well this marathon is only a 6 hour drive, but it is on a Saturday. I would have to take the Friday before off and was not sure if I wanted to do that so close to leaving for Nepal.
That leaves the 50k in Spokane. Well, I do have running an ultra on my bucket list. I did always think that I would end up running a 50 miler first though. This one was the perfect scenario though. It is on a Sunday morning. This means, I could leave on Saturday morning for the 6 hour journey, run on Sunday and then have Brent drive me home while I am sitting next to him dead in the car. I wouldn’t have to ask off work. Perfect! I am not registered for the race yet, but I am 95% sure that this is what I am going to do. I have already set out a training plan which will start the 1st of the year. We will see what happens. Wish me luck!
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