Call Me Crazy...

…but I have decided to complete the “Marathons of Texas” in 2009 – 2010, and I will put off my NYC Marathon goal for another time. The “Marathons of Texas” include the Dallas White Rock on December 13, 2009, the Chevron Houston Marathon on January 17, 2010, and the Austin Marathon on February 14, 2010. This means that I will not run the Rock ‘n Roll marathon in San Antonio on November 15, 2009; I will do the half marathon in San Antonio instead.

I know lots of people complete these marathons consecutively every year, but this is a difficult challenge. I have only run one marathon so far, and I will only have two under my belt by the time White Rock rolls around in December. Call me crazy, but I had fun running every step at White Rock last year. The weather was awful, and I didn’t have a great finishing time, but I had fun.

Obviously I am not shooting for Boston qualifying times in these races. My goal in marathoning is to gradually improve my times. I have a tendency to push myself, but I also recognize that I have a tendency to burn out when I try to do too much too fast. I will likely be fresh for Dallas, a little tired in Houston, and exhausted in Austin. My goal us to have fun, complete the races, and stay healthy rather than worry about my finish times.

There are lots of reasons I want to give this a try, and here are some of them:

1. Close to Home. Because we live in Fort Worth now, these are all close to home and require only short road trips, saving time and money and days I have to take off of work.
2. What’s a better way to spend Valentine’s Day than running a marathon together? No, I haven’t exactly asked David, but he'll get over it. What’s the saying? It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
3. I am a Texas girl. Can I really call myself a Texas runner if I haven’t done all the major marathons in the Lone Star State?
4. If I complete all three of these marathons, I get a cool “Marathons of Texas” jacket (if you complete any other combination of half marathons and marathons at these events, you qualify for the technical shirt).
5. Pride. How cool would it be to say that I did three marathons in three months?
6. I have plenty of time to rest and prepare. We finish the San Diego Marathon on May 31st, and I wouldn’t have to run another marathon until December. That’s over six months to recover, train in an off-season, and then prepare for the marathons.

Maybe I am crazy, but, frankly, what else do I have to do? Everyone needs a hobby, and I figure running is a good, healthy undertaking. What’s funny is that a year ago I would laugh at how crazy all my new “running friends” were. They traveled to all over the country to run races and ran all the time. Everyone told me that I would get addicted to this sport, and I guess the Marathons of Texas are evidence that the addiction has taken its hold on me.