Mid-Week in Bloomington: Looking Ahead

Amidst all of the marathon posts and various plans, there's still this guy here who is trying to figure out what I'm going to set my sights on.

It's cold here! Not necessarily temperature-wise. Actually, they tell me that right now 40 degrees temperatures at this time of year is a heat wave! But the air here is so damp so that it makes it feel like it is in the upper teens or low 20's; therefore, that drove me inside to the Bloomington Sports Plex last night.

I hate the treadmill so I hammered out 1 hour and 53 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Yes, that's 1:53 (from about 8:15 to 10-whatever p.m.)! The first hour I logged 5.41 miles at the random setting, level 16. I stayed on the machine until all of them filled up (which means I was on mine too long) so I got off to let someone else on, but I didn't check the mileage at level 17.

While people hate this machine, I actually enjoy it -- and I read all of the USA Today (including all of those little state profiles in the Main section.)

As I have accomplished most, if not all, of my initial running goals and I've gotten Waverly trained for her half marathon this Sunday, it is hard to determine where I want to refocus things and aim for.

I can have fun with this sport, don't get me wrong. However, I need something real to achieve. I'll always try to go out and run my best time in any event. That's just my competitive nature.

I'm toying with a "41 and 41 by 41" concept. That's 41 half marathons and 41 marathons by the time I turn 41, which will be on January 5, 2008. Right now, I have 21 and 4!

Yes, I know. I've already done the math: three (3) marathons every two (2) months! A little daunting, but people have done greater and more impressive feats. Plus, I want to join the 50 States Marathon Club by the end of the year and I have to have ten (10) states to join! (The 10 half marathons each of the next two years will come. That's what I did in 2004 and 2005.)

To that end that is why I'm looking at the Mardi Gras Marathon in just over three weeks, the Little Rock Marathon in the first week of March and the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on April 30th. (Vancouver's marathon is in May.)

If I decide to do Mardi Gras Marathon, which I'll decide by this weekend I think, I'll probably also do the River Road 12-Mile Run in New Braunfels on January 22nd and the 3M Half Marathon in Austin on January 29th.

We'll see. For the moment, I'm rambling! Stay tuned!