Running Goal

A few weeks ago I finished up what is so far my craziest running streak. I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC the last Sunday in October, followed it up with the Ultracentric 6 hr race in middle of November, and then completed White Rock Marathon in Dallas in early December.

Now I am left with the decision of how to proceed from here. Do I go for distance or do I go for speed. Going for distance would mean training for a 50 miler sometime later this year while going for speed would mean shooting for a 3 1/2 hr marathon or faster.

In the meantime I have the Austin Marathon and Cowtown Ultra on my running calendar. These are on back to back weekends in February. The only problem I have is the entry fee for Austin which is $110. This is pretty steep compared to most of the local marathons in Texas. Considering I can and sometimes will run almost an entire marathon during a training run, it makes it hard to fork over $110 for the privilege of doing it in Austin. I can do the Cowtown Ultra for just $85. What a deal.

It is funny how when marathons were a new thing for me I really wouldn't pay attention to the price. I was too caught up in wondering whether I could finish, or about the aid stations, or how course conditions would affect me. Now I can just grab a hydration pack or fuel belt and go knock out 26 miles in pretty much any type of weather conditions on any day.

Currently I am leaning toward a focus on speed since I am still young and realize that as I age my speed will probably slow down while my endurance will pick up. If I could run like Scott Jurek or David Goggins it would take care of my problems since those guys run a 100+ miles at my 10k my pace.