Friday Q&A: Choosing a Marathon
How do you choose which marathon to run?- Janet W.
Hi Janet, I have used several different processes for picking marathons in the past.
I picked my home town marathon (Austin Marathon, 2002) to be my first just from a logistics perspective, and because I didn’t know if I wanted to run another one afterwards, so I wanted to keep the costs down, and also have my wife be able to come get me if I was unable to finish.
There are certain marathons I’ve picked because of the challenge of it: Pike’s Peak, Grandfather Mountain, Death March, Crater Lake. I like to do hard races as I would get really bored if I only ran flat courses.
Then of course there are the scenic ones: Big Sur, Napa, Hawaii, Rome, Switzerland, Amsterdam, etc. I would also love to do the Avenue of the Giants and I know there are many other scenic ones I should be thinking of as well.
Everyone should do at least one of the “Majors”. A super big event with a lot of history: Chicago, New York, Boston, London. I really would like to run the London Marathon sometime in my career.
I’ve also picked ones with cool or novel ideas, for example the Sunburst Marathon in South Bend finishes on the 50 yard line of Notre Dame Stadium. I wore my traditional University of Texas jersey and did the Heisman pose for my finishing photo. Good times.
I’ve also done marathons strictly because they were run on Sunday within driving distance of the marathon I had done on Sunday making for a nice double. (Frederick MD; Maine Marathon, Route 66 Marathon, Hauling Aspen, Harrisburg, TimTam).
For the next six months I am picking out based on what is left for the 50 States. My January - June schedule looks like this:
1/3/09 Running from an Angel (NV)
2/15/09 Austin Marathon
3/7/09 Snickers Marathon (GA)
3/29/09 Knoxville Marathon (TN)
4/20/09 Boston Marathon
5/3/09 Rhode Island Marathon
5/24/09 Vermont City Marathon (50th State!)
6/27/09 Rock And Roll Seattle
Afterwards I will be looking for some more challenging ones. Readers, what marathons should I be thinking of doing, and why? What are your favorite marathons?
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San Francisco. But, I’ll bet you’ve done that.
Good luck with Running From An Angel. Calico Racing puts on some pretty difficult races. I did the Red Rock Canyon Marathon last year, and it was by far the most difficult marathon I’ve ever run. So, you’ve probably picked a good one!
I’d recommend running the Chickamauga Marathon in Georgia. It’s flat and fast, and it’s run through a Civil War battlefield. The field is pretty small, the terrain is forgiving, and the volunteers are really great.
The Lost Dutchman Marathon in Arizona is worth doing just for the medal. Last year, it was about 3/4″ thick and shaped like Arizona, with the lost dutchman, his donkey, a pot of gold, and a desert background. My favorite medal!
I’d also recommend doing the Atlanta Marathon beacause (as far as I know) it’s the only race run on Thanksgiving Day.
And I definitely agree with you that everyone should do at least one of the majors. I’ve done Chicago, and the experience was incredible.
checkout Sydney. It is awesome!