Looking Ahead

For a while, I haven’t really been thinking about much past my cruise.  We booked it so long ago that it was this big date on my calendar for months.  But now that I’m back and my sunburn has started to peel, it’s time to think about what comes next.

Obviously, marathon training is a big part of that.  But there are a bunch of things before that.

October is going to be a busy month.  This weekend, I’m volunteering at the Half Full Triathlon.

Next weekend is the Baltimore Running Festival, for which we have convinced a number of friends to fly in.  It’s a great race and I hope my legs are up to the challenge.

The following weekend is the Army Ten Miler, one of my favorite races.  I always worry about making the cutoff on this race, since it’s set by time of day, not by chip time.  When you’re in the last wave, that makes it more scary.  So the goal will be to push til the cutoff, then ease into a normal pace.

And then the month closes out with the Marine Corps Marathon. I’m not running either the marathon or the 10K this year, instead choosing to man the cheer squad.  The plan is to bring coolers of snacks and drinks for my running buddies (blog readers included!) and I hope the added security doesn’t thwart that plan.  While I know runners won’t be allowed to carry backpacks or camelbaks, the website doesn’t say anything about spectators.  It would be hard to police that through the entire 26.2 miles.  But I’m well aware that my stuff may get inspected.  Heck, since I plan to park at the office and then metro to the cheer spot, my stuff will all have to go through the office x-ray machine first anyway.

So yes. Busy month.  And on all those cheering weekends, I also have to get in a number of long runs myself.  This year is flying by and I need to make every day count.