After a good race at Rocket City, I’m ready to get my 2023 running and race plans solidified!
So far, I have four races on my calendar in 2023 that I’m really looking forward to.
First on the docket is the Myrtle Beach Marathon the first weekend of March. The 2023 race is a deferral from a post-Covid pull from the 2022 race weekend earlier this year. Thankfully, the course has a 6.5-hour time limit, so I think even maintaining my training throughout the next few months will get me across that finish line.
The first weekend of May, I’ll be taking advantage of a 2020 deferral – the Flying Pig! I’ll be doing the 4-Way with Extra Cheese; the mile race Friday night, both the 10k and 5k Saturday morning, and the full marathon Sunday morning. This one also has a long time limit (about 7 hours), so I think I’ll be in good shape. In addition, this is what I’m considering my “goal race” for the spring season, so I’m actually doing a Dopey training plan in advance of this race. It means I’ll kind of be shoehorning in Myrtle Beach onto a random weekend in the middle of the plan, but I think the multiple races over multiple days is something I’ll have to get my body used to again. Only two mornings of early wakeups instead of the four for Dopey, but I can still use the miles on my legs!
In mid-June, I’ll be doing a local 50k on a rails-to-trails that I’ve been hoping to finish for quite some time now. I did the 25k the first year, had to drop out of the 50k the year after that, and wound up DNS-ing the 50k this past summer because I was ill. I’ll just be doing this one for completion, not for any records or speed, so I hope it’ll be a fun one!
Keeping up my training for the 50k will also keep me building up my base pretty well as I lead into my next training cycle that will start around the Fourth of July.
My true “goal race” for 2023 is redemption at the Marshall University Marathon in West Virginia. That’s the only fall race I’ll be targeting, and I really want to make sure that I’m giving that as much dedication as I can. After having to drop at mile 15 in 2021, I’m out to cross West Virginia off of my list and definitely want to do it at Marshall. The good news is that I won’t have to fly in this go-around, since I’m now living within driving distance, so my mom and I can just head on down there after work one day.
Throughout my training for all of these races, I hope to hit a yearly mileage total of 1,500 miles (or 125 miles a month). I have some other fitness-related goals to keep up with this mileage, like doing stretches for my plantar fasciitis and keeping up with general stretches and strength training.
All in all, 2023 is shaping up to be a great year for running and I’m looking so forward to it!
It's Me, Tory D 