So, after much thought and prayer, I have decided to change my first marathon from the Big D marathon to one week earlier at the Irving marathon. My biggest concern was that the location of the Big D is in an area of Dallas that I'm not very familiar with and that has its fair share of crime. Since I would be going that morning by myself (family will join me later in the day) and it's not in the best area, and I'm not familiar with the area, I decided that the Irving marathon better suited me. It's practically right in my "backyard", I'm very familiar with the routes and the terrain, and in general the safety of the location.
What that means for me is that I've now narrowed my training by a week, so I absolutely cannot miss a training session. It's been hard this week with our kids first getting sick, my husband and now me, but I will be getting my six mile run in tomorrow as scheduled - sick or not!
As for the rest of the year, I'm hoping to be able to do a half marathon again in August and then December. I'm researching options for some half marathons that are out of town, maybe try to get a trip in with it. If not, there are still a few half marathons to choose from in the D/FW area that I would be interested in. Once I get these halfs under my belt, I'm planning to train for a full marathon. I don't have a time frame for this; I need to see how the half marathons go, my recovery from those and the amount of time it will take to properly train for 26.2. I'm excited about what my running future holds! Here's to a year full of running fun and adventure!
http://www.irvingmarathon.com