My Next 2 Marathons – RunFest + CIM

The other day I realized I have been talking about running a sub-3 hour marathon on here but never gave an update on which two marathons I am going to try and run that at!

So without further ado. . . . .my next two marathons are:

Humpy’s Marathon – RunFest, Anchorage, AK

My first marathon since having Bjorn will be Humpy’s Marathon, which is part of the RunFest race series here in Anchorage. Initially I wanted to do this race in 2020, when I would have been 11 months postpartum with Bjorn. I did this race after having Cullen in 2015 (at 9.5 months postpartum) and won this marathon, which was a highlight in my running career.

I like racing close to home because it means sleeping in my own bed, getting to the race start is easy, and I know the course like the back of my hand.

This course is not super flat, but it isn’t incredibly hilly either. It starts and ends at the same spot, so it is a net elevation of zero, which means for every hill I climb, there’s a downhill to make up for it! There is not a lot of people who run this race, so I will likely be running solo most of the race. The race does have two out-and-back portions, so I will see other runners. The other downside is that there won’t be a ton of people out cheering due to a small, hometown race, plus I’ve noticed less people out cheering during Covid times.

California International Marathon – Sacramento, CA

I actually signed up for the California International Marathon (CIM) in 2020 during the springtime. I partially signed up the race that early because of the really good cancellation policy they had to defer registration for up to three years. So this year I am redeeming that initial registration and hopefully racing this in December at the end of this year.

I chose this race for several reasons:

-it’s fast! (Everyone knows this is an ideal course for running fast. There are rollers towards the beginning of the race but a net downhill course.)

-the timeline fit really well with doing a marathon in August–having time to recover and build back up before another marathon three months later.

-only one time zone different.

-there will be a lot of other people to run with.

It will be fun to run a destination race. I like traveling for races outside of Alaska since there aren’t many marathon options here. Of course, there are pros and cons to doing a race at home vs elsewhere, so I am glad to have the opportunity to do both options this year.

It has been nearly three years since I ran my last marathon, which was New York City Marathon in 2018. I can’t believe it has been that long, so I’m hoping I remember how to run a marathon! I am feeling optimistic that both races will go well, but it is going to take everything in me to run a sub-3 hour marathon!