Now that Ironman season is over for the year, I’m looking for a marathon to do in January or February. Reading the calendar listings doesn’t really give me a sense of the events in terms of fun, or interesting venues. Any recommendations? Thanks.
I did the Catalina Marathon a couple of years ago. It’s more like early spring, but it’s great. It is St Patricks Day, I think. Point to point, off road, unreal scenery, cheap lodging and you may get to see pro triathletes. PNF won it a few years ago, I did it with Paul Huddle and Mario Souza. A little late, but dovetails nicely with a June IM.
The Catalina event sounds great. I’m signed up for Boston, though, on April 19, and may not be rested enough by then if I do Catalina in March. Definitely will do it another year. That’s why a January or February date may be the best time for me to do a marathon this winter.
What about San Diego on January 18, or the Rock n Roll Arizona Marathon on January 11? Anyone have comments on these?
RnR Arizona will be a first-time event in 2004, but the company that puts it on has a good track record (RnR San Diego, Country Music, and others). I’d consider running it if it weren’t so close to IMNZ.
I have thought the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, AL might be cool 2/9/04. The reason being the Olympic trials are the day before. The Oly trials is some type of 5 or 6 mile circuit so you could watch the olympic hopefuls go by 5 or 6 times and see the finish. The course for the next day is entirely different and not a circuit.
David
The Florida Gulf Beaches Marathon (www.floridamarathon.com) is on Feb 22. Run in Clearwater, etc. – near Tampa Bay. I’ve never done it, but it is supposed to be a nice race…close to my parents winter home, so I may do it to get out of the midwest winter.
Disney is Jan 11, if you want to spend a lot of money…I think that race is full already.
Other posts mentioned some other good options.
Well, this option is slightly different than the ones offered above. We have a Sri Chinmoy marathon, 50K and 100K run on Jan 1 in Ottawa Canada on a multi-loop course. On Jan 1, it is typically between minus 10 and minus 20 C, howling wind with a minus 35 degree windchill factor and uneven footing from snow and ice. You are guaranteed to have no PB’s but if you are searching for an athletic challenge while potentially being hung over from Dec 31st, this is it. You can warm up for the event the day before with a 10K run - 50K ski Winterman training event that I organize !
The marathon and ultra events are held beside the Rideau Canal (featured a few years ago as a Runner’s World “Rave Run”). The canal serves as the “World’s longest skaing rink” in the winter at 8k long and is great for cross training on speedskates. If you do a search on XTRI you can seen an article that I wrote on “snow and ice triathlon” where Ironman Wisconsin winner Dave Harju (a local) finished 2nd overall. The Winterlude tri is one of the oldest multisport events in Canada and consists of a 8K speedskate-7K XC ski and 5K run. Happy winter training and racing !
If you want to move up the schedule a bit, there’s California International in sacramento in early December. 4 of my fastest 6 marathons are on that course including my p.r. Its flat and fast. Scenery isn’t the greatest and weather can be a question, but it can be a fast time for you. Vegas is around February I think and that’s supossed to be another speed burner, although I have never done it. I have heard one person say that it is so flat you can all but see the finish line from the start line 26.2 miles away.
Las Vegas is good, Austin (twice) was better, I’ll let you know about Phoenix in January. I really like training for distance running in the fall and winter…
I’m considering doing either Motorolla in Austin or cowtown in Fort Worth. Anybody have the skinny on either of these races? I would love to know the pros and cons.
Have only been to Austin - but I highly recommend it. Great town, great people and a fun race. I have done it twice and I still can’t figure out how to spend any time listening to the blues and run a marathon on Sunday without staying an entire week after the race.
btw - I hear jimi
Do any of these other marathons have a flyover from the world’s most famous flight demonstration team to start the race? If not, look into the Blue Angel Marathon at Naval Air Station, Pensacola in February. Nothing like 6 F-18s screaming over your head to get the blood pumping. Certified distance and BM qualifier.