Marathon Plans

Over the last week or so, I have really been looking for a winter marathon to train for. Locally, there aren't many possibilities as most are on Sundays, and I don't run on Sundays. I started looking in southern California since my brother lives in LA, and there were a few Saturday marathons, but not really at convenient times of the year. Yesterday, I thought I'd check Nevada since I have a sister near Vegas. A quick search on MarathonGuide.com led me to discover a new racing company called Calico Racing, and they have organized several races around Las Vegas, and most of them are on Saturdays!

They have the perfect marathon for me. It's called the Running From An Angel Marathon, run along the western edge of Lake Mead, and it is on January 3, 2009. Don't ask me where the name comes from. I haven't figured that out yet. This will be the second running of the event. Reasons for me to run this:

1. It's on a Saturday.
2. The drive wouldn't be too bad. Vegas is about 5 hours from PHX.
3. It's got raving reviews on Marathon Guide. All are 4.5-5 stars. The organization, the scenery. It sounds like a great run.
4. January 3 is during my Christmas break. Granted it is the last weekend of the break, but otherwise, it's great timing.
5. It is a Boston Qualifier. That'll have to wait until 2010, though.
6. We'd get to see my sister and her family who are only about 30 minutes from the start. And I'd imagine she'd let us stay with her.
7. Last year's winner finished in 3 hours 22 minutes. I'm thinking I could be ready for a sub-3 hour marathon by then. Hmmm...

All in all, this looks like it will be an awesome race. I am looking forward to training for another marathon. I can't wait to run it!