Grand Finale

I realize that it's far too early to start thinking about the end of my marathon journey, but during my second run yesterday, I started to muse over marathon number 50.

No reason, really. Sometimes my brain just wanders from one topic to another, and even if you asked me, I probably couldn't tell you how I got from point A to point Z. So, regardless of how I got there, this is what I was going over in my head in between gusts of wind.

I wonder which race I should save for number 50. Should it be one of the more exotic locations? It won't be Hawaii. I know that, because I'm not going to wait that long to get to Hawaii. I've always wanted to go, and that's one of the goals for this year. Now, whether I'll run a marathon in Hawaii this year remains to be seen, as I don't want to spend my vacation concerned with a race. But still, I feel like that is one of the races I should do sooner, to be able to fully enjoy the island around it.

Alaska could wait until then, I suppose. I have no other reason to visit Alaska, outside of general curiosity, so that one could be put on hold. On the other hand, I kind of want the last one to be a "big deal" marathon. New York City would fit that description, but I was considering that one for next year. I have a number of friends who currently live there, and it would give me a great excuse to catch up with some folks that I haven't seen in quite some time.

One suggestion that I really liked was to run an encore race in Dublin, Ireland. Once I've completed all fifty states, I'll do one overseas before (most likely) retiring and never running again.

In the meantime, I really want to start hammering out a schedule, but at the same time, I'm very wary about getting ahead of myself. My best course of action is to do nothing regarding the future of this challenge before I get through a race. That leaves me about 11 days (notice my spiffy new countdown clock at the bottom of this page) before I have to make any further decisions.

A lot will be dictated by my job as well. With irregular performance dates throughout the year, I'll have to be careful about when I schedule myself to be in other parts of the country. A great example is this June, when I would love to be running the Sunburst Marathon in South Bend. I'll be in a production here in Austin, which makes traveling to Indiana a little difficult. I can't even really plan anything for late summer at this point, because of some possibilities on the horizon. All I can hope is that, assuming these possibilities fall through, there will still be time to register for whatever race can fill the time.

I am almost definitely planning to run the Marine Corps Marathon this October, and there are 37 weeks between Austin and then. I feel like I should do something in between.

And I'm thinking too far ahead again.