A Packed Calendar

If anyone is looking to run a race in West TN, right now seems like the time to do it.  I’m completely bumfuzzled by the number of races going on around here in the next few weeks!  I want to do so many, but my poor legs and my poor checking account just can’t handle them all.

Since I’m racing out of town this weekend and obviously won’t be racing the following weekend either, let’s just start with the last week in March, shall we?

3/31 – I had been having a super hard time deciding what to do this day.  There are two half-marathons locally.  One in Clarksville and one in Jackson.  I’ve done them both before, and they are both excellent races.  And that would give me three half marathons in March, which I thought was pretty cool.  But there is also an 8K here in town that day.  I have never run an 8K before, so I had just about decided on that.  It’s closer and it’s cheaper.  But then today at work I was informed that my clerk will be unavailable to work that day.  So it looks like I’ll be slinging mail instead of pounding pavement.  I could have been the asshole boss that says, “No, you can’t have off!”  But this guy’s family time is more important than my race calendar.  I’m just a nice guy like that.

4/7 – Relay for Life 5K.  Since I don’t really feel like my last 5K is indicative of my training (nevermind the fact that it was a short course), I’d really like to do this one to see how it goes down.

4/14 – Fantastic Four 4-miler.  There’s nothing really special about this race other than it’s cheap, it’s local, and I haven’t raced a 4-miler since 2010.  So that PR is dated to the point that I’m running every 4-mile training run now at a faster pace than my two-year-old race pace.  I’d like to update that PR.

4/21 – Murray Half Marathon or Hushpuppy Dash 5K.  I ran the inaugural Murray Half Marathon last spring.  Until last weekend, it was my PR course.  I loved the course, loved the support, loved the field size, loved the fact that it’s local, loved the relatively cheap entry fee, loved everything about it!  And now I’m really thinking I’ll do this one since the 3/31 half marathon has been taken off the table for sure.  Although I hate to miss out on the Hushpuppy Dash 5K AGAIN!  If you’re not from around these parts, you won’t realize what a HUGE EFFING DEAL the World’s Biggest Fish Fry is.  Redneck?  Yes.  But nevertheless, a huge effing deal.  The 5K serves as sort of the kickoff to the week’s festivities, but I’ve had to miss it for one reason or another every year.  I probably won’t make the final decision on this one (another bonus of smaller local races:  no fear of them selling out) until the last minute.  Or at least until I see what happens at the Relay for Life 5K.

4/28 – Country Music Marathon – Okay, so I was never even contemplating that one this year, but it’s still out there as an option for some people.  Just not me this year.  🙂  I’ll be in Nashville that day but nowhere near downtown.

5/4 – Midnight Madness 5K – I’m not planning on doing this one either.  I’m just including it because I would seriously be considering it if I weren’t otherwise engaged.  A midnight 5K just sounds like fun!

5/12 – Now THIS one I’m doing FOR SURE!  It’s Pam vs. the Strawberry Festival 10K round 2.  I missed my one-hour goal by 34 seconds last year.  This year is my rematch.  Unless I fall and break a hip during the race (which, let’s face it, when you’re as clutzy as I am, is ALWAYS a possibility), there is no way I’m not beating that goal this year.

This seriously isn’t even a third of what’s out there.  These are only the ones that I would like to do.  After mid-May it starts tapering off because HELLO it’s Tennessee and it’s HOT in the summer!

Now that I’ve got it whittled down to these few that I’d LIKE to do, I’ve just got to decide on which ones I’m GOING to do.

Easier said than done.  If only my social calendar were this packed.