Holiday Miles Challenge

Several of the marathoners on the Marathon Race Training forum of Runners World Online have started a Holiday Mileage Challenge. This is actually the 3rd annual Holiday Mileage Challenge, so there is already a loyal group of runners participating (most of whom will smoke me in miles). The challenge this year is from December 24th through January 3rd (last Sunday of the holiday weekend) so there is an 11 day window to try to max out your mileage. I decided to throw my hat in the ring. I should still probably be trying to recover from the Thunder Road Marathon, but I have been eating Christmas cookies like the world is going to end tomorrow, so the challenge sounded like a good idea. Between running in bitter cold weather, and pulling doubles on my treadmill, I'm pretty sure I can start the new year with an overuse injury - woohoo!

Marathon Maniac #2050

The Thunder Road Marathon was my third marathon in 3 months which makes me Marathon Maniac eligible, so I am now officially Maniac #2050 (how's that for a nice round number?). I qualified for Bronze, their lowest level. Their are 8 levels above Bronze, topping out at the Titanium level. To qualify for Titanium are you have to do one of the following:

1. 52 marathons or more in 365 days

2. 30 marathons in 30 US states, countries or Canadian provinces in 365 days

3. 20 countries in 365 days

How's that for crazy? Don't think I am qualifying for Titanium any time soon. I may have a shot at Silver next year though, if I run 6 marathons in 6 consecutive months or do at least 8 within 365 days. I have already come to the conclusion that speed is not my thing, so I don't know if qualifying for Boston is in the cards any time soon. I think running a whole bunch of marathons is a whole lot more realistic of a goal for me, and will hopefully provide an eventual path to Boston.

I'm very curious to know what races other people are looking at for 2010. I've got a rough idea but would like to know what other people are thinking...

Thunder Road 2009

I ran the Thunder Road Marathon in Charlotte, NC Saturday. I was on the fence about doing this marathon but jumped at the chance once the airfare dropped a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad I did - I thought it was a well done race and I had a great time. I flew down on Friday and got to met up with NJShoreRun (aka Steve) .

My main goal for this race was just to run it easy since I ran Philly 3 weeks ago. That's a little hard to do in a race that has roaring engines at the start when the guns go off. I ran the first half a little faster than I should have but still had a decent race. I managed to meet up with Steve a couple of times during the race which was cool. We actually ended up running it in together at the end.

I really liked this race. I stayed at a hotel that was six blocks from the expo and start/finish line so it was super easy to get in and out (and never saw the inside of a Charlotte porta pottie), plus the airport was only about 15 minutes away. I'm always amazed at some of the criticisms people write on MarathonGuide.com (too hilly, too cold, a waitress was mean to me, blah blah blah). I thought this was a great race and would definitely do it again.

Finish time = 4:13:36

At the expo

Start Line

Somewhere around mile 14? (thanks to P Kay)
with NJShoreRun at the Finish

Post & Pre Marathon Wrap Up

The Philadelphia Marathon uses EnduraFit for their marathon shirts. EnduraFit apparently designs their shirts based on stick figures wearing them. I have a shirt from the half marathon last year and the marathon this year and both shirts are very tight in the shoulders & arms. I have seen this talked about on the Philly forum of RunnersWorld online so I know I am not alone with this complaint. So in a shameless act of capitalism I put both shirts on eBay this week. I will never wear either shirt since they fit so crappy so I figured I would use them to fund upcoming race registrations. So check out my booty from two race shirts:

Not bad considering I started the auction at $20. I checked the Marathon race results this year for the name of the person who won the auction and didn't see them on there. I thought that was interesting, not sure what it means, but I hope someone ends up being happy with these shirts. I really hope EnduraFit steers clear of any of my future marathons - it really sucks to get a shirt from a race that you can't even wear.

So what should I do with that hard earned thirty six bucks? Not sure if there are any good marathons coming up - surely it would be stupid for me to run one so close to running Philadelphia.