NYC Distance Challenge

New game!

As you might know, I am running the NYC Marathon this year in November. I am sure it will be a day to remember and I am very excited about it.

You know what else was fun though? The Knickerbocker 60K! I ran it last year and I would love to do it again. The problem is, this race, now named NYRR NYC 60K, is held 2 weeks (13 days to be exact) after the NYC Marathon, which creates a whole mess of recovery challenges for ones legs.

Being a bit of a challenge-junkie, I thought, why not. I can still peak for the marathon and drop out of the ultra if I don't feel well.

Another favorite race of mine is Grete's Great Gallop Half Marathon, which was slated for September 29th this year. Doing that race before the marathon seemed like a good idea to the math junkie in me. 13 miles, then 26 miles, then 37 miles. (I would be happier if the last one was 39 miles, but this will have to do). If only, I thought, the Gallop would be a bit later. You see, there would be 5 weeks of rest between the half and the full and then only 2 weeks between the full and the ultra, which creates a bit of an asymmetry, which the math junkie doesn't like.

My prayers were kinda sorta answered about a week ago. NYRR bumped Grete's Great Gallop to October 14th, three weeks before the marathon. Again, not perfect, but what in life is.

And thus the NYC Distance Challenge was born.

Do the Gallop on Oct 14th, do the NYC Marathon on Nov 4th and finish with NYC 60K on Nov 17th. If I can finish the Gallop under 2:15, the marathon under 4:45 and the 60K under 8:00, I will call myself a finisher of the NYC Distance Challenge. (I keep the right to adjust the target times until September, depending on my training)

NYC Marathon being my target race, I will try to keep myself on a slower pace during the Gallop. I will put in everything at the Marathon and hope to recover for the 60K.

Would anybody like to join?