.: It's Getting Real in 2018 (+ a discount code)

Friday, January 5, 2018

It's Getting Real in 2018 (+ a discount code)

Hey hey friends! If you're reading this, then I assume you've successfully navigated the maze of Christmas carols and awkward gifts exchanges and cheese plates and champagne toasts that is The Holidays and arrived safely on the other side in good ol' 2018.

We spent Christmas in Spokane with Don's family, then celebrated New Year's by getting the heck out of the city and up to Bodega Bay for a few days with friends. I did my best to keep on my regular training plan through all the craziness and *mostly* succeeded, though there were a couple of snafus. Now that things are back to normal, I'm in the thick of week four, cranking out mile repeats & 2Ks at HM pace & whatever else RunCoach throws my way.

In January 2017, I started the year with a nearly empty race calendar, just a March half marathon (which I flaked out on) and a September 10K because of a cheap re-run offer from the year before. After CIM 2016, I felt a bit exhausted and extremely unmotivated to seriously train for anything. By early fall I finally pulled it together long enough to race a pretty decent half, but by & large it was a fairly lightweight year in terms of training & racing.

Not so this year! I'm not sure when it happened, exactly, but at some point my 2018 running year got super booked up. I'm even (gasp!) a race ambassador for something this year. (For which race?? You'll have to read on to find out!)

* * * 2018 Race Plans * * *

January: Continue ~~reminding my legs what/why is running~~ Boston training & cross fingers that all that calf/Achilles nastiness from November/December doesn't rear its ugly head again.

February: Make my glorious return to Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon on 2/4. It's cheap (as these things go these days), flat, and super close to home, and since the timing works out this year, why not! I PR'd here in 2010 and it would just really kick my year off to a rocking start if I could maybe pull it off again.

I kinda-sorta also want to maybe run a 10K in February, but we'll see if I have two weekends of racing in me. Brazen Bay Breeze is the same week as Kaiser but I enjoyed the Victory 10K last year in Richmond, so that's an option.

March: Train train train & finish my theoretical peak weak with the Oakland Marathon on 3/25. This may be a really stupid idea, but there was a discount code, I have a fast finish 23-miler to do that day anyway, and MAN I am just not excited about doing it on my usual routes at my usual time (mid-afternoon). I considered doing the half, but that's, like, another ten miles before and/or after the race which to be honest sounds pretty miserable. So I sort of shrugged & said "Eh, why not." In my head three miles isn't really THAT much further... (Right? Someone tell me it's not.)

If I don't do a 10K in February, I might do it in early/mid March.

Thanks runningintheusa.com for the suggestions. ;)

April: Boston Marathon on 4/16, swiftly followed by Big Sur on 4/29. So, three marathons in 36 days for those playing along at home. They sent me this shirt so I'm pretty sure I have to do it now or, I dunno, locusts.

May: Something possessed me to sign up for Bay 2 Breakers again (most likely the 50% off opening day sale), so apparently that is also a thing that is happening. I guess. (I mean, assuming I can still walk after Big Sur.)

The literal, actual B2B starting line

June: SF Track & Field Club PrideMeet 5K. I really want to give this one another shot & see if I can maybe not DNF a 5K. We will see!

September: Race to the End of Summer 10K, 9/9. I ran this race in both 2016 and 2017 and really enjoyed it (my terrible performance in 2017 nonwithstanding), so I am happy to share with you all that I am serving as a race ambassador this year. They ARE, however, making me work a bit for my free entry (which is *completely* fine)! My task: Convince at least 10 of you to sign up with promo code AK2018 for $7 off any distance. If you register by March 15, that's $18 for the 5K, $23 for the 10K, and $43 for the half--not bad!