And the marathon I'm running is.....

So, after much internal deliberation, I have decided which marathon I'm going to run in October 2014.

A couple weeks ago I posted about the three marathons I was considering: Denver, Chicago, and Lakefront (Milwaukee). I eliminated Denver pretty quickly. Then, I found out about the Twin Cities marathon in October (October 5), so my choice became Twin Cities, Chicago, and Lakefront.

I was really leaning towards Chicago until I found out about the high price (it's $100 more than Lakefront), and the insane demand (sold out in a matter of HOURS last year!). Around this same time I became really excited about the Twin Cities marathon. A little bit farther of a drive, but it's size (roughly 23,000) seemed to strike a perfect balance between the tiny Lakefront crowd (3,100) and the massive Chicago crowd (45,000). The online reviews for the TCM were glowing, too (although, to be fair, almost every marathon I've read reviews for mostly has very positive reviews). TCM would fulfill my desire to branch out and run somewhere new, and I would also have great crowd support and get to run in a big city.

So, my choice came down to Twin Cities Marathon, or Lakefront Marathon.

After a lot of thought, I have made my decision that on October 5, 2014 I am going to run the Lakefront Marathon here in Milwaukee.

I would run all three of them if I could because they all sound awesome, but this really came down to practical concerns. I weighed the pros of each marathon, and this is why I chose Lakefront:

1. Get to sleep in my own bed and don't have to travel
2. Low cost
3. More friends/coworkers around to celebrate with and cheer me on (in the Twin Cities I would only have one. I love ya Kate, but I'm sure you'd get sick of me hanging around)

These three things are what separate this marathon from the others. At the end of the day, as a first-time marathoner, these practical considerations won out over things like more crowd support and a more exciting course.

I'm sure I will miss the heightened excitement and camaraderie of the bigger city marathons. But, every decision has an opportunity cost. Hopefully, this is only my first of many marathons, and I will still get to experience TC, Chicago, and many other marathons in my future! I'm sure they will be even better when I can run them as a (slightly) more experience runner.

Registration opens for Lakefront in mid-January (I'm not gonna lie, the fact that their registration opens a month earlier than the others was a plus for me as well), and I'm counting down the days and ready to go! I can't wait for that feeling of being officially registered so the marathon can become real.

Until then, back to focusing on my other goals!

Thanks to all my runner friends for your continuing input and guidance :-) I hope you think I've made a good decision!

Which Marathon Should I Do?

 Ever since I started my running journey I've been debating whether I'm dedicated (and crazy) enough to run a full marathon one day. I've decided that I'm going to go for it. I am going to run a marathon in October of 2014.

Now that I've decided to do a marathon, the question is: which one? A marathon is upping the ante. A marathon is not something that most of us can run very often, so it follows that a runner would be more discriminate in choosing which marathon to run - especially your FIRST ONE!

All the marathons I've heard about sound pretty awesome, but I've narrowed it down to the three choices that are most likely and most sensible.

1) Denver Rock n Roll Marathon, Denver, CO
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Running a marathon in Denver would be cool for so many reasons. I have a personal connection to the city, as I served my year of AmeriCorps NCCC out of Denver. Many of my NCCC friends still live there. I haven't been back since I graduated from NCCC in July of 2011. I've always wanted to visit again but haven't had the chance. What better way to come back with a bang - exactly four years after I started the program - than kicking a marathon's butt? It would be great to see my NCCC friends again and have them there to cheer me on, too.

However, running this marathon would be very impractical for many reasons. First and foremost, it would require more time off from my job to accommodate travel to and from the city, and that travel would also cost a lot of money and interfere with my ability to rest before and after the race. It doesn't make sense to use up so much vacation time and spend so much money when there are marathons here in my neck of the woods that I can run.

Another huge concern is the altitude adjustment. Running a race is hard enough at an altitude I'm comfortable with. Granted, I didn't have much trouble adjusting to the Denver altitude when I started NCCC - but I was living a normal life at that time, not running a marathon. It just doesn't make sense to run my first marathon in an altitude my body isn't used to without adequate time to prepare for it. That could be disastrous.

Denver would be a dream marathon - reliving NCCC memories, seeing old friends, running with beautiful scenery surrounded by mountains. But I just don't think it's realistic.

2) Lakefront Marathon, Milwaukee, WI
Sunday, October 5th, 2014
Logistically, financially and practically, this marathon makes the most sense: it is right here in the Milwaukee area, so I wouldn't need to do any traveling and I wouldn't need any time off work other than the Monday recovery day. It will be a great course, too. But all of my races are in Wisconsin and all but two are here in Milwaukee. Running in Wisconsin is great, but I keep thinking that it would be nice to branch out and go somewhere new for my big marathon. It would amp up the excitement and novelty of the marathon experience.

Clearly, a balance is needed between the urge to go somewhere new and the need to consider practical (and financial) concerns. Which brings me to my final choice:

3) Chicago Marathon, Chicago, IL
Sunday, October 12, 2014
This marathon would require minimal travel, as Chitown is only a stone's throw away from Milwaukee (well, relative to other parts of the country anyway). I have friends from college who live in the area, so hopefully one of them would be gracious enough to host me and I wouldn't have to stay in a hotel that weekend. This also means that I would hopefully get to see a lot of friends and celebrate with them. I've heard the course is really cool and relatively flat, and it would allow me to explore the city in a novel way.

This is a bigger marathon than the Lakefront, so the environment will be less intimate - but I'm not really sure if that is a downside or not. I don't really have enough racing experience to know if I would actually prefer a smaller marathon.

So, it looks like it's really down to the Lakefront Marathon or the Chicago Marathon. I want to make a decision soon, because registration will open for each one in January, and Lakefront's website says this year's marathon sold out by April. Also, I just like registering as early as possible for my races. Peace of mind and all.

Any input from friends would be appreciated, especially if you've run any of these marathons before and can tell me what they're like :-)

Happy running!