Time for a marathon

After running the half-marathon in December I knew that I wanted to start running half and full marathons competitively. Fall is definitely the popular time for marathons although there are a few in the Spring as well. I knew that I wanted to run a smaller regional race for my first official marathon. My first thought was to run the Brookings Marathon. It is a nice small race and close to home. Not to mention that my college coach (and current landlord) Randy Fischer won it 5 times in the 1980's and he also has the course record. Well, the race is scheduled for May 14th which is also my graduation day from college so I guess that day is out. Right now my plans are to run the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon on Sunday, June 5th. I already paid my entry fee so as far as I'm concerned I better be running this race!

This race is appealing for a couple of reasons. First off, it's in the Black Hills and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Black Hills. The majority of the race takes place right on the Mikelson Trail which is mostly crushed gravel and should be rather easy on the legs. I am hoping to work @ Outlaw Ranch in Custer again this summer so I will already be in the Hills for a little bit before the race and hopefully long enough to get used to the elevation before race day.

My goals are fairly simple I guess. I want to break 3 hours and maybe even 2:50 or faster. Hard to tell this far away what my fitness will be at. I'd love to win the race as well but that mostly depends on who shows up to run that day. If someone capable of running 2:30 is there I will NOT be going out in 5:50 pace only to die a horrible death during the 2nd half of the race. I just need to focus on my training and race the 26.2 miles. The really unique part that I already touched on briefly is.... ELEVATION! The course starts @ about 5300 feet and builds up to 6200 feet just before mile 14. So the good news is there is only one hill! It's just kind of a big one. Mile 14 to the finish is all downhill except for one small uphill at mile 19.