Thursday, August 8, 2013

Go BIG or Go Home!

Hey there guys!  Sorry about not posting anything lately.  CRAZY busy at work right now (until the middle of September).  I did compete in and finish the Naperville Triathlon this past Sunday!  I plan on doing a recap but haven't gotten a chance to get it together yet. I had a great time though!  I'll get it by next week, I promise!

Earlier this year, my marathon goals were this: complete 2 fall marathons about a month apart.  I already signed up for the Fox Valley Marathon on September 22nd! In fact, I signed up for that in January.  But with the series of shoulder dislocations, etc, I decided to wait until later in the year to decide what my 2nd fall marathon would be, depending on how I felt, how my shoulder was doing... 

While waiting to decide, I debated on not even doing a 2nd fall marathon and just sticking to Fox Valley and call it a year.  I'm tired, stressed, lots of shoulder dislocations.  I thought maybe after Fox Valley, I would just have shoulder surgery.  But I will tell you, thinking about not doing a 2nd marathon was bothering me a bit. It's never fun when you make a goal and decide not to try to accomplish it.

My friend Julie had signed up for Fox Valley Marathon (9/22), Chicago Marathon (10/13), and the Chicago Lakefront 50/50 (doing the 50k, 11/2).  She's insane.  She mentioned she thought I should skip the 2nd marathon in late October and do the 50k with her (obvi!).  I said earlier in the year that I am 100% certain I never want to do anything longer than 26.2 miles.

While walking on lunch yesterday, I thought to myself that I have done a lot of "firsts" this year...Ragnar, Sprint Triathlon... I swear I thought there was more??  Anyway, I came to the conclusion on lunch that I was going to sign up for the 50k instead of the 2nd marathon.  Why?  Eh...why not?  Go big or go home, right! 

I just decided that I didn't know what the future would hold or when/if I will have surgery on my shoulder so I figured I might as well finish the year off BIG!  I will already be trained.  If I did it next year, I'd have to retrain.  It's only 5 miles more than a marathon I was going to do anyway if I did the 2nd marathon.  Might as well. 

Julie was super excited I signed up for it. She was worried that she would be doing it alone.  We are planning to do the whole thing together, not for time, just to finish.  Julie and I train together on a regular basis and we are the same pace (pretty much exactly), so I think this is a good plan.

Have you done any ultra marathons?  Is it on your bucket list? 

4 comments:

  1. 50k? Awesome. Don't know if I'll ever dare. I get injured enough training for 26.2. But, who knows? :)

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  2. Woo hoo, good luck!! You MIGHT just inspire me to do the 50K in the spring. Maybe. We'll see. I dunno. At least another 26.2.

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  3. Good luck!! I know you will do awesome :)

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  4. I saw your times online - you should be proud Amanda!!

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