Races enroute to Sunmart

There are 4 races before we get to Sunmart. A road marathon, a trail 50K, a trail marathon, and a road half-marathon.

The first of them is the Chicago Marathon, on October 22. Chicago with its 40000 runners and 2million spectators, promises to be a lot of fun. Besides, close to 100 Asha runners are running it (from many chapters) and at mile 19.95, we have an Asha cheering booth. The atmosphere of such a race is so electric, its immense fun to be in it.

The second is the Rocky Raccoon 50K. This will be my first Ultra-marathon. It is set in Huntsville State Park, same as Sunmart. So it will act as a dress rehearsal for the big one. The plan is to test out all the gear, the hydration systems, and try to eat at the aid stations and figure out what is comfortable and what isn't.

The third is Motive half marathon. This is Austin's annual "fall" half marathon, runs along a fairly hilly course in North Austin. I've been running it for the last three years, and would not like to miss it this year either. The only deal is the day before the race, I am running 30miles in California, and then taking the evening flight back to Austin. Plus, according to schedule, I have to run 7miles before the Motive race begins, so that the entire distance including the race is 20miles. In all, does not seem like I can even hope to race Motive, more likely that I'll be able to walk it out.

The last race is Warda Cardiac-run Marathon. This is a trail marathon in a hilly setting. The plan is to run the marathon, and continue running until we hit 35miles. This marks our last long run before Sunmart. Having never run a trail race yet, I am fairly clueless how this will turn out. However, by the time of running this, we would have completed a longer trail race (Rocky Raccoon 50K).

Races are a fun way to train. Its been 8+ months since I ran in a race. Eagerly looking forward to these 5 races in fall.

Update (Oct 19, 2006):
Have added one more race to this season's list. Dekker 20K is on December 3rd, and instead of doing the 12mile run on saturday, have decided to do the 12.4 mile 20K race on sunday. Dekker is a very hilly, usually very cold, yet beautiful race. One of the best races in Austin. I've been running it 3 years in a row now, and its easily one of the my "most fun" races. There are parts of the course where you suddenly come across a lake with the mist upon it standing in Miltonian melancholy, as patience did on a monument, and wonder if you hit the perspective vortex somewhere and are now in the Misty Mountains about to enter Khazad-dum.