This month, I actually did something really bold on the very first day and then figured I could kind of coast the rest of the month.  In fairness, it was really, really bold.  Maybe too bold.  Certainly ambitious.  Certainly audacious.  Possibly nuts.  If we’re friends on Twitter or Instagram, this will come as old news to you, but my bold act for March was…

I registered for my first full marathon.

Gulp.  Yep.  I’ve decided that 2014 is the year I’ll finally tackle the big, bad 26.2.  But let me back up a bit and explain.

The idea of running a marathon is something that has been percolating for awhile, but the timing was never right.  I started running consistently in January of 2010 and, within about 18 months, had worked my way up to the half marathon distance.  I was really enjoying challenging myself with new distances and different races, but then I fell into a months-long funk (for multiple reasons, none of which I like to discuss) and ended up taking a substantial running hiatus.  Finally I worked through the mental stuff that was bogging me down, and started running again.  I ran a 5K turkey trot in November of 2011 and a 5K Valentine’s race in Feburary of 2012, and then ended up taking another running hiatus when I ended up with a high-risk pregnancy.  During these long breaks, the idea of running a marathon was pushed waaaaaaaay into the back of my mind.

I laced up the running shoes again last spring, when Emma and I ran the Healthy Strides Community 5K together.  Still, I wasn’t thinking about pushing it on distance; I was just glad to be out there again and feeling like myself for the first time in a long while.  But after that race, I kept going.  I ran casually through the summer – that was all I could manage while making peace with leaving DC and then getting settled up in Buffalo.  But I started to train more seriously once fall rolled in, because I’d committed to run the YMCA Turkey Trot with Emma and Grace, and I wanted to PR.  I did PR (although not by as big of a margin as I’d have liked, thanks to finish line snarls – grrrr) and I had so much fun training that I started to think about the next thing.  Slowly, very slowly, the long-shelved idea of running a marathon crept back into the front of my mind.

But I knew I needed a confidence boost if I was going to take on this challenge.  Fortunately, I had one all lined up: back even before the Turkey Trot, I’d signed up for the Moms RUN This Town “Start Your Engines” winter virtual race, in the half marathon distance.  I trained hard and knocked out the 13.1 miles in early February, and I knew that if I could tackle 13.1 miles in frigid -5 degree weather, through blowing winds, and over a 95% packed snow surface, I could take on 26.2 miles on a (hopefully) lovely October day.  Because I’d narrowed my “big scary dream race” choices down to two, and they were both scheduled for October.

Picking a Race

Back in 2010, when I was running down the trails near my home in Arlington and dreaming of the big one, I figured that if I ever ran a marathon I’d run the Marine Corps.  It’s the big race in a city that attracts lots of big races.  I had many friends who had run MCM over the years and I dreamed of walking up to that start line too.  But when it came down to it, I ended up waffling between two different races.  The MCM is still a “bucket list race” for me, and I hope to run it one day.  But as things turn out, it wasn’t in play when I sat down to consider the question, “Okay, if I really do this, which race should it be?”

Another race I’d always had in the back of my head as a potential first marathon was the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon.  The MHRM has a lot going for it, from my perspective.  It takes place close to where I grew up and where my parents and many friends still live, so I’d have good spectator support on the course.  (I hope, anyway – I’m assuming availability and interest.)  There’s also the fact that the course is heavily downhill over the first 13.1 and pretty much flat for the second.  It’s one of the fastest marathon courses around and generates disproportionately high numbers of Boston qualified runners.  (Not that I’m going for a BQ – hah! – but if the course is really that fast, then I have a better shot of finishing with a not-embarrassing time.)  A bonus: the 2014 race happens to be scheduled for my birthday weekend, and I think running a marathon would be a really cool way to ring in 33.  The only negative (aside from having to travel across the state) is that the course closes after 5 1/2 hours, and I’m not completely confident I can get ‘er done in that time.  My current half marathon PR of 2:37:02 (in hillier, colder, worse conditions) puts me across the finish line before the cutoff, but I’m still nervous about the idea.

There was another possibility, though.  If I decided not to go for the MHRM, I could still run a marathon in October.  (Actually, there are a lot of marathons scheduled for October.)  The Niagara Falls International Marathon (known around the BUF as “the one where you run into Canada”) takes place at the end of October.  The start line is steps from my house.  (The finish line, of course, is in another country.)  I liked the idea of just being able to saunter down the block to the start – I actually ran through the crowd of runners waiting to start while out on a Turkey Trot training run last fall, and got to listen as they played the Canadian national anthem before the gun went off – and the idea of an international marathon was pretty appealing.  It also would give me about two more weeks in which to train and prepare.

In the end…

I waffled for awhile, because both races sounded good, but in the end, I chose the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon.  Registration opened on March 1st and I signed up that morning – which was good, because it’s a very popular race.  (The half marathon option sold out within hours of the link going active.)  Naturally, I’ve been in a state verging on panic ever since.

Why Now?

Frankly, I don’t want to put it off anymore.  I’m tired of having dreams on hold.  I want to go live my life, and this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now.  I feel like the stars are lining up for me to go after some of my goals in 2014, and this is the best year for me to try.  I’m fully recovered from childbirth, I’ve got a handle on this parenting thing, and I’m at a point where I like having something “just for me” outside of my identity as a wife, mother, etc.  I have the capability and the time to train for a big event now, and who knows what 2015 will bring?  I don’t like to plan too far ahead these days – Peanut has taught me a thing or two about that.  So 2014 it is.

I’ll talk about training later this spring, and I’m thinking I’ll share snippets of what I’m doing to prepare for this insane task I’ve set myself.  In the meantime, just picture me hyperventilating as I sift through marathon training plans and try to set up a schedule that works with the other races I’m planning for the summer and fall.  Much more on the marathon to come, in good time.

If you chose a word for 2014, how did you live it this month?