#10515

My number came today and I am in time group 1A for the Peachtree! Yippy!

I had a bit of a scare this weekend when I found out that Poppy got his number last Thursday and Bubbles's friend Barbie got hers last week too.

I am very excited to be at the front of the pack of 55,000 runners for this year's race rather than way at the back--I've had numbers starting with 7,000 and with the dreaded 9,000 back of the pack in the past. It isn't a lot of fun to navigate through the walkers when you came to run.

Maybe I'll even get to start before the winner is declared this year too.

Regarding other races I have begun to narrow down a marathon. Help me decide and if anyone has any experience/opinion with any of these races I'd love to hear it:

1) OBX Marthon ; Nov 12th.
2) Richmond Marathon; Nov 11th
3) St. Jude Marathon in Memphis; Dec 2nd
4) Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, AL; Dec 9th
5) Miami ING Marathon; Jan 29th, 2007

Okay, so while Rocket City and Memphis both appeal to me I worry about their "no head phones" clause. I wonder how seriously it is enforced as I need my music. Miami is a bit too far off and it eliminates a potential possibility of a BQ for 2007. However, a beach vacation in January does sound kinda nice and Ryan does have family in West Palm and Miami.

But then again, I'd really like to try to BQ this year. I think I can do it. I'll be 35 so my qualifying time for Boston is 3 hours 45 minutes. That means shaving 23 minutes off my previous marathon time. I really think that is a realistic goal--assuming I pick an "easier" course than Atlanta, which I think all of the above are.

Also, if I do Richmond or Outer Banks I could still do the Atlanta half marathon at Thanksgiving. Actually I can do any of the above except for St. Jude's. I think the half is too close to St. Jude's to work into my taper. I really like the half, so if possible I want to run it.

I am looking at Richmond because I think I might want the experience of the bigger marathon but then again maybe I don't. Really, I just included this one because it is touted as a fast course and I like the date. I'm not really sold on the course, it sounds a little boring to me but the crowd support could make up for that.

The Outer Banks is appealing because the course sounds visually stimulating and, so they claim, is also flat and fast. However, this will be its inaugural running and I am also concerned about the wind factor.

What to do, what to do. . .