Race bunching

Since I have been so pressed for time and have been so backed up on posting blogs, I've got about a zillion things that I could write about.  Instead of bombarding all of you with blogger vomit when time does permit, I'll try to reduce my blogger backlog (bloglog? backblog?) at a semi-reasonable pace.  [Deep breath.]

There's that great expression that "When it rains, it pours." 

Usually this is taken to mean that when things are bad, that they are really bad.  But, I've heard that this phrase actually originated from the fact that back in the old days, table salt used to clump up during humid conditions.  Morton Salt coined the phrase "When it rains, it pours" to advertise that their salt would still freely pour even during wet weather.  Neat, eh?

Where am I going with this, you ask?  I've been thinking a lot about what races to run in 2013.  Unfortunately I am having issue with all of my planned and potential races and travels taking place in very specified timechunks.  Instead of my races "pouring" freely, they are clumping up like Chicago rush-hour traffic on a Friday night amidst rain, construction, AND gapers delays! 

(This has been a much bigger source of stress than it should be considering that races are supposed to be FUN.)

April/May
There is talk about a spring Chicago Running Blogger weekend getaway. At this point it looks like it'll either be the weekend of April 26 at the Illinois Marathon/Half, or the weekend of May 3 at the Wisconsin Marathon/Half.  

 

I also wanted to run the CARA Lakefront 10-Miler, which is the weekend of April 20.  

I was actually considering running the Illinois Half regardless of whether or not there was a blogger getaway.  I really wanted to run a race at my alma mater!

I-L-L!  I-N-I!

But I just found out about an 80th birthday celebration for my stepmother-in-law, which is taking place in DC the weekend of April 26.  So it looks like I won't be running the Illinois Half this year.  But maybe I can still run the Wisconsin Half, with or without the cheesehead?  DISCOUNT DOUBLE CHECK!!!  (To all my fellow Bears fans, sorry about the Packers reference.  But somewhere out there my friend Helen is smiling.)

In short, depending how this shakes out, it could end up being an incredibly busy three consecutive weekends.

On a related note, did I mention that for the third year in a row I'll be out of town during the Shamrock Shuffle?  It takes place on April 7, which is the same weekend as this year's MAASU Spring Conference.

Maybe someday I'll get to run the ever-so-popular Shamrock Shuffle.  Maybe someday.

July/August

I am already registered for Rock N Roll Chicago (July 21) and Rock N Roll Pittsburgh (August 4).

Then I'm heading to Toronto on August 8 for the 2013 NAAAP convention in Toronto. 

It'd be cool to find a race in Toronto that weekend so I can add Ontario to the list of places where I've run a race.  But even if that doesn't happen, it'll still be two half marathons in three weekends and three cities in four weekends.  Woo hoo!

September/October/November

Here's where it gets extremely fun.

I definitely want to run the PAWS Run For Their Lives and the Blackhawks Mad Dash to Madison.  This year, these two races were scheduled to take place the EXACT same weekend in September.  How's that for timing?  (Fortunately or unfortunately this year, the Mad Dash got postponed (at this point I would call it cancelled) due to the NHL lockout.) 

To add to that, the PAWS Run and Mad Dash also both take place a couple weekends before...

...and I am about 99% sure that I want to run Chicago again next year.  (That by itself is a topic for a whole other blog post.)

Then, I really, really, really want to run the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon. 

Unfortunately Wine and Dine takes place about 4 weeks after Chicago when I will probably still be in post-marathon recovery mode.  I was thisclose to signing up for Wine and Dine this year.  In the end I was glad that I didn't because to this day I am still trying to rehab marathon-training injuries.  Additionally, Wine and Dine would obviously entail a trip to Orlando.  But unfortunately it also takes place just one or two weekends prior to Thanksgiving, when the usual tradition is to travel to Pittsburgh.  It'd be a pretty condensed timeperiod of travel, but it certainly can be done.

Similarly, I would love to run Rock N Roll Las Vegas.  But next year it takes place on November 17.  That might actually end up being the same weekend as the Disney Wine and Dine.  Either way, it's also dangerously close to Thanksgiving.

Finally, I had visions of going for my Disney Coast to Coast medal next year.  This would entail running the Disneyland Half over Labor Day weekend, which would obviously entail a trip to Anaheim.  But the Disneyland Half would be just a few weeks before to the PAWS Run and the Mad Dash, which are just a few weeks before the Chicago Marathon.  Also a lot of travel within a pretty condensed timeperiod.  Doable, but not necessarily easy.

IS YOUR HEAD SPINNING YET!?!?!?! 

(I don't know about you, but I lost my mind a long time ago.)

If I were about 8 years younger, I'd probably shoot for the moon and do all of them - just because I could.  But my recent bout of injuries in combination with the potentially significant travel/registration involved has made me much more skittish about overcommitting myself. 

For now, the jury is still out on how to handle severe race-bunching.  I know that I should just let things play out as they may.  But the problem is...

Le sigh.