Happy New Year: A Marathon a Month
Two goals on the 2020 McHenry Resolution List are 1) to “Simplify” and 2) to run a marathon a month. The former is big and can be expounded upon later on. The latter may sound ambitious, but in 2019 I ran 10 marathons, so 12 in 2020 should be a goal within reach if I can stay healthy.
For context, most of the marathons in 2019 were training runs in between races, which included 2 ultra-marathons (the Harbison 50K (~31 miles) in SC and the Badwater Cape Fear 51.4 miles in NC) and Irorman Lake Placid in NY. Lake Placid is the 2nd oldest Ironman in the US other than Kona, where the world championships are held, and a real tough course so I loved it. This year I am registered for Ironman Texas in April, where my Cousin, Logan, ran a ridiculous 10:18 last year (OK, I’m shooting for a PR) the Savageman Triathlon in September (with a dozen buddies on a men’s weekend) and the Kiawah Marathon in December (our annual family jaunt). So I will be filling in races with training runs as I go. If you have any recs for good routes please let me know. (Birdy, I know you do.)
Avari and Josh finished their first half-marathon in December. Everyone in the family was excited so we already registered for the same half in 2020; but this time Brynn, Hayden, Emerson and Eliza will join Avari, Josh and Krista. Now Noah is claiming he wants in; you’re supposed to be 14, he’s 7.
So how am I doing now that it’s February? On January 1st, I pieced together my first marathon as a family run with Hayden and Josh on the first leg, then Krista, then Avari and lastly a solo finish (see route below). This one inaugurated the idea. It was cold, as low as 18 degrees, and icy. That night I got 9.5 hours of sleep including 4.5 hours of deep sleep. Gotta be a record and something to note. I ran my second marathon on January 31st, call it nominally my “February” marathon (see route below). I have a conference in San Francisco next week and if I can escape for several hours will shoot to get another one out there. So I am on track and feel great. But test me on this by checking back in November...
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