Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Verona... I think it's Verona

BigBigBig decision to make: which fall marathon to try? And I think, due to sheer laziness & unwillingness to travel on my part, it's going to have to be the Verona Marathon on 7 October 2012. Sure, I could do Budapest on the same day... but then I have to spend time/money traveling there. I don't think I want that kind of hassle. Plus pet sitting. 3 dogs = a LOT of pet sitting.

The next issue is the course. After the Gardaland Half Marathon, I'm stuck with a heavy fear of hills. That sucked & I'm still in the healing process from that. I'd like to avoid that at all costs. I don't think there's any amount of hill training that would've prepared me for the suck-fest that was the Gardaland Half Marathon. So in looking at a course, I'm paying more attention. The Verona course is all drop:


I understand drop is also challenging, but I think I'd rather be running down than running up. Because I have first-hand knowledge that running up sucks.

Being familiar with the area, I believe this is going to be a lovely course. It starts in wine country & ends at the Verona Arena. Can you imagine completing a marathon by running thru a Roman arena? Yeah, I can't either. Here's the course:


The ending bit is confusing, but it's mostly country (if you view the satellite option) roads & small towns.

And finally, pricing. Right now, it's only 25 Euro (approx $30) to register. Um... really? Yes, really. So it's wicked cheap AND there's no travel or pet sitting required. That sounds like my kind of race! Transportation to/from is the only real challenge I see, but I'm hoping I can get some friends interested in meeting me at the finish line to drive my tired butt home.

So I think it'll be Verona in October. After which, I'll be healing up & getting Penny ready to run. She'll turn one year old in December 2012, so it's a good time to hold back on mileage to get her up-to-snuff (when she reaches the right age). As far as training goes, I think I'm going to attempt Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 training. I was doing so well towards the end of my half marathon cycle. And if doesn't work out or proves to be too much for me, I can always step back to Novice 2.  Either way, training begins 4 June 2012.

I hope I'm up for it.

2 comments:

  1. I'm running a Marathon the same day here in the States, I look forward to following your training!!

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  2. Lolz... I haven't even firmly decided to do Verona! But I probably will. I think I do better when I have a specific goal in mind. Just running doesn't really "do it" for me.

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