Decisions, decisions

Hard to believe it's only been about 3 weeks since the inaugural running of the Black Hills 100 (50-mile race for me). For those of you who did not check the results, I came in 11th out of 13 in my age group and 24th out of 33 runners overall. I've always maintained that the results are not what matter - only that I finish...and that's exactly what I did.

Over the last couple weeks, I've been somewhat underwhelmed with the notion of running - our schedule has been super-busy these last couple weeks visiting with friends at the Mall of America, driving to North Dakota to see my family and generally just keeping up with the kids. To be honest, I just haven't been able to find the time.

Over the weekend however, I read Run! by Dean Karnazes. There is something about that dude that just lights a fire inside me. I'd like to think there is a mini-Karno inside of me always looking for that next wild and crazy adventure. While I love the notion of being that nutso guy who attempts endurance events that other people just shake their heads at and call 'crazy', I also love the sense of accomplishment that comes with these unique adventures.

For a while now, I've been thinking that the Portland Marathon was in my future - I really enjoyed the venue and energy back in 2007 (my first marathon ever!). That was until I saw the price of it. $145 bucks for 26.2 miles (that's $5.53 a mile). Yikes. Why exactly was I running this event? Oh yeah, Boston qualifying. The reality of training through the Arizona summer probably makes the chances of that pretty slim. Verdict - undecided.

There is this nagging desire to take on another 50-miler in August. The Lean Horse 100 in Hot Springs, SD is calling out to me...with only 2,000' of elevation gain and a super-simple flat run on the Mickelson Trail, I'm extra-tempted to see how well I can do with more of the pure distance rather than the distance AND  9,000'+ of elevation gain from the Black Hills 100. Verdict - undecided.

Decided. I've already signed up for the PF Chang Marathon in January of 2012 (@ $70, how could you not sign up for a that?!?).

As you can see, there isn't much on the horizon right now but that could change very easily. Clearly, I have some decisions to make.

In the meantime, maybe I'll write Dean Karnazes and tell him his book would be better if he included $150 in the back to help you register for a marathon :)