For Real Race Schedule

It's time to get serious. Seriously serious. Through the past few months of angst, I have continued running fairly consistently, but I haven't really been riding, and I certainly haven't been doing anything you could actually call training. I know I've been waffling on here about whether to just concentrate on running this year and not do any MTB racing, and maybe just using the Badger to go out and have fun. But I've decided to scrap that idea, because I'm a Capricorn and I need structure (only partly joking here). I realized I need something to train for with my bike, and if I just wait until cross season, I'm going to find my summer slipping away without putting in the miles I should be.

Besides, I haven't been around any MTB people in what feels like a really long time and I'm starting to think that's a mistake. And sure, I could just go and hang around at races, but as long as I'm going to be there, I might as well be racing. So this morning, as many of my MTB friends are gathering on the west side of the state to race Yankee, I'm figuring out both my running and MTB race schedules for the year.

Since I haven't started riding yet this year and I've really enjoyed endurance racing in the past couple of years, the schedule doesn't begin until July. It is mostly endurance racing, with a couple other races I enjoy thrown in for good measure. I may also do some CPS races, but that will depend on schedule and how I feel and those will probably be last minute decisions. I also haven't included cyclocross in here, but I'm planning to do most of the Kisscross series, at least where I don't have conflicts. For now, here's what it looks like:

• July 16, 6 Hours of Ithaca (love, love, love this race)
• July 30, 8 Hours of Bloomer
• August 13, 6 Hours of Pando
• September 3, 6 Hours of Drummond Island (this one is a definite maybe, but I'm hoping it happens b/c I've wanted to do it for a few years and it's never worked out)
• October 8, 6 Hours of Addison Oaks
• October 15, Peak to Peak
• November 5, Iceman

And now, for running. I've figured out I'm going to do the Capital City River Run Half-Marathon for my first half marathon. It's not until September, which is a little later than I planned, but I think it's the one that makes the most sense for my first. If I'm feeling really strong, I might move it up and do an earlier one. Other than that, I'd like to do a 5k, 10k or longer race every month or so, but these are pretty tentative, since I don't really have a huge commitment to any of these races and there are 5ks all the time. If I miss one, I can always swap it out for another one the next weekend. Here's what it looks like:

• May 1, Dan Langdon Memorial 5k
• May 14, Heart of Michigan 10k
• June 5, We Can Do It Women's 5k
• July 8, Moonlit Miles for Marrow 15k
• August 6, Mint City Races 10 mile
• September 18, Capital City River Run Half-Marathon

Phew! That's a pretty full schedule. Guess I'd better get moving!