Eagle Up What?!

Since I don't have a race recap for you this week (I do seem to be running a lot of races lately...gotta do it while the weather holds!), I figured I'd write a post about... the races I've added to my schedule! While I'm still seriously focused on training for the Amish Country Half, the plan I'm using does call for a couple 10K races, one at the end of Week 8, and one at the end of week 13, I guess as a sort of milestone review and progress check.

10Ks are hard to find around here for some reason, so I haven't had a lot to choose from, and the week 13 race in particular was looking pretty iffy. I was basically on the verge of deciding just to add another long run when a random search on Running in the USA (my primary source for races, though when that doesn't turn up anything I'll also start checking local timing company websites, etc.) showed there was finally a race added that met my criteria!

The Week 8 race is this Saturday, and is the Run for Humanity 10K in Beaver, PA. A bit far afield, it'll take us about an hour to drive there and packet pickup starts at 8. I can't find much other info about this race; the 5K has been around for 25 years but it looks like this is only the third year for the 10K. Depending on the turnout I may have a chance at age group awards simply because the field for the 10K isn't terribly deep (the shorter race is more popular) - in last year's field I definitely would bring home something, but 2015 was competitive enough that I wouldn't. So we'll see. The weather is looking to be absolutely perfect (50, partly cloudy) after a long week of heat and humidity, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do. It's only my second official 10K ever, somehow (the one I signed up for earlier this summer got postponed to a weekend I couldn't do it), and I think odds are good I'll PR unless something goes horribly awry. While I'd love to get under an hour, even coming close will make me pretty happy; I don't see being able to put in the same effort that I did at the Heitz of Heaven for twice as long, but you never know! Since this race is specifically called for in the plan, the rest of my runs this week are much shorter than usual (which after last week's 30 mile bonanza is actually kind of welcome), and I'm going to do the same 'eat maintenance for a couple days beforehand' plan that I did for the 5K. On the other hand, I'm completely in the dark about the course, which is always "interesting" to say the least. Worst that can happen is I'll get another shot at the beginning of November, so no worries either way, really!

Week 13's race is a little further away still, and not the kind of race I'd normally go for, but completing my training plan as closely to the actual plan as possible makes me feel happy and that I can evaluate it properly at the end of the cycle, so I went ahead and signed up for the Lois Stobbs Memorial Veterans 10K in Wheeling, WV. This course will be at least a little challenging - it's the back half of a 20K/half marathon race that has at least one big hill right towards the end, but is interesting because it's a point-to-point, which I've never had the chance to do. Plus, there's a catered awards banquet afterwards and buses to get us back to the starting line, so I went ahead and booked a hotel near the start for the night before this one, since it's just a little farther away than I want to drive on a Saturday morning. Plus it'll give us the chance to explore a new place a bit, which is always fun!

In addition to those, I've also signed up for the Spirit Run 5K here in Pittsburgh on October 15, which is definitely not called for on my plan - it's on a Sunday (rest day) so I'll probably just swap it with an easy run later in the week (Friday probably) and take it as low-key as I can convince myself to do. This one is going to be a costume race, which I'm pretty excited about as I had some things that I could repurpose, and a few more I've acquired since then that will make it fun! This race also had an actually nice drawstring bag, pretty good snacks, and excellent raffles when we ran it two years ago, so I'm looking forward to doing it again!

As far as post-goal races, I usually do a December 5K that I'm pretty ambivalent about repeating, so I may skip that, but I'm considering the Run to Read Half semi-seriously at this point. There are only 7 weeks between the Amish Country Half and the beginning of my training cycle for the Pittsburgh Half (assuming I do another 16 week plan) so I'm wondering if it might help keep me focused through the holidays to try to just maintain fitness instead of turning into a hibernating slug who occasionally emerges to go to the gym or whatever. Mostly the weather (both for training and running day of) is what makes me apprehensive about that one, because everything else about it (my hometown, for a good cause, interesting race, has a tunnel) is a positive.

And outside of that - I'm almost certainly going to be signing up for my first ultra marathon for next June, which is basically a statement that I never expected to say (or type). The /r/running subreddit has an annual meetup at an ultra, and this year it's the Eagle Up Ultra in Ohio, which is acceptably close for a "big race" trip. Originally my goal was to participate in a relay team to finish 100 miles in 24 hours, so with 8 people would be 2 or 3 loops of 5 miles per person, which I think would be a reasonable expectation of myself considering my progress and current training/race schedule. However, it doesn't look like the group is going to be able to successfully muster the 8 people we need for a team relay, and I don't think I'll be fast enough to contribute my "fair share" with 6 people or fewer, so I'm seriously considering signing up for the 50K distance and trying to solo it. Realistically if I can keep moving even with a walk/run approach I think I can manage that in 24 hours though I'll probably hate myself somewhere along the way, and I have no idea how to even start planning training both for Pittsburgh and for this. So once the team situation is officially decided I'll likely be registering and then trying to figure out how the heck to get myself ready for that. I know I'd go in with basically no time goal, so even if I do it in 23 hours and 59 minutes I'd be happy.

So that's what's new in race planning land. I just can't help myself!