Decisions, decisions

Back at the beginning of the year, I set the somewhat arbitrary goal of running 13 races in 2013. Why? Why not. Matching numbers make my brain happy. This may be why I ended up doing data analysis for a living.

I now find myself with 9 races done, and registered for 3 more (Oakville 10k, Run for the Toad, and of course the big goal race, the Scotiabank half marathon). So I need to register for one more race to reach my goal.

There are two possibilities for the last race, both races I have on my 'local races I definitely want to run at least once' list. The Road 2 Hope half marathon, and the Boxing Day 10 miler. I don't even want to total up how much I've spent on race fees already this year, so it's hard to justify spending the cash on both races.

Road 2 Hope

Pro: gives me another shot at a fall half marathon if Scotia is a disaster

Con: only 2 weeks after Scotia, which isn't ideal for taking another run at a PB, or improving any PB I do set at Scotia

Pro: looks like most of the Burlington Be-skirted Brigade will be running it (Amy, Sam, possibly Patty), plus other fun people like Nicole. Having friends to hang out with at the start and then to congratulate/commiserate with at the finish rocks.
Con: not sure how my husband will feel about being abandoned yet again with the kids on a Sunday morning
Pro: downhill course = possibility of blazing fast time
Con: expensive, don't know if they do good shirts or not to justify the cash
Pro: seems like a waste to train this hard and then only run one half marathon this fall
Con: knowing I'm registered for this one might make it too easy to quit/slack during Scotia (not really that worried about this, but you never know)

Boxing Day 10 miler

Pro: pajama pants!

Con: do I really want to run 10 miles on Boxing Day?
Pro: cheaper than Road 2 hope
Con: don't know who else might be running it (Sam?); could be lonely if no one else I know signs up
Pro: I often run part of the route on lunch runs, so it's familiar
Con: there's a really nasty hill
Pro: I can call Christmas dinner pre-race carb loading
Con: will probably eat so much I have to be rolled to the start line

So yeah, now that I type all that out, I'm pretty sure I want to do Road 2 Hope, mostly because of the social aspect. For an introvert who took up running partially because it gives me lots of alone time I sure have acquired a lot of awesome running friends! Not sure how that happened but it's great.

And who am I kidding, there's a pretty good chance I'll end up signing up for Boxing Day anyway, even if that will mean 14 races instead of 13 and the numbers loving side of my brain is howling in agony.