I’ve been on hiatus for awhile now and I don’t really have a good reason other than having competing priorities, but that’s not to say I haven’t been training and running more races. I’ve done 2 more races, bringing my total to 16 for the year so far with 2 more halfs definitely on the calendar and probably another 1-2 shorter runs thrown in for good measure. 

Half Fanatics & Time of the Season Series update 
I’ve never really talked about becoming a Half Fanatic (#7257), but I officially joined back in April after I did 2 halfs in 14 days with the Run the Bluegrass half on March 29 followed by the RaceFest half on April 12. Right now I’m sitting at Neptune, but since I’ve got a half in November and now one in December, I’ll moon up to Uranus in December with 6 halfs in 6 months. I’m also going to be checking off another state in December since I’ll be traveling to Ohio and that will also be my first trail half marathon. It’s definitely a gamble to do a half marathon on the first day of winter in Ohio, but apparently last year it was 70 degrees, so hopefully this year it won’t be too terribly cold!

For the Time of the Season Series, I committed to do a race (at least a 5k) once a month for a year, from March 2014 through February 2015. As of today, I’m committed to races through December, so I’m still on the lookout for races in January and February next year, but I’m thinking of something more local based on some of the other things I have planned for next year, which brings me to…

2015 updates
Last weekend I paced one of my friends to her first half marathon at the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon and the group of us that ran together have already started discussing doing more races together next year, which means looking at the 2015 calendar again. I’ve already signed up for a 3-pack with Vacation Races next year and have picked out 2 of the races… next June I’ll be heading out west to Wyoming for a half near Grand Teton followed by a half near Yellowstone in Montana the following weekend! It’s definitely a big adventure that will include lots of hiking and since I’ll likely be flying into Utah, I’m also keeping an eye out for a race in Salt Lake City too. 

I’ve also decided that I want to try another marathon, and the ladies I ran the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon with are looking at the Rock ‘n’ Roll series, so I’m debating doing one of those as my second marathon attempt and given the price of their marathon, I’d likely pick up a 3-pack for that series too. The good news with the 3-packs is that it’s a little more flexible since I wouldn’t have to be concerned about the deadlines for price increases, as long as I register before it sells out. 

Also on my radar for 2015 is potentially mooning up to Jupiter for Half Fanatics with 9 half marathons in 9 states within 365 days. If I start counting backwards from the races I will be doing next June, based on what I have already run or registered for, I’d have 6 states in a year, so 9 might not be too much of a stretch. 

Are you planning for 2015 already? What are your big races for next year?