Since you asked...

A lot of people have asked me over the past couple of weeks if I am planning on running another marathon before the Trials in January 2012. Most of the time, people have asked this with the expectation that I have a goal to run faster and to try to hit the "A" standard (2:39). To be honest, shortly after running at Twin Cities, I already knew that I did not want to run another marathon before the Trials.

The reason? I left TCM with such a great feeling of elation, confidence in myself, and contentment. I want to enter the Trials race with the complete and utter confidence that I gained from the Twin Cities Marathon. That is not to say that I don't believe in myself; it is to say that the idea of chasing a time in a random marathon doesn't sound nearly as exciting as running my heart out at the Trials with, quite possibly, the same group of women I ran with at TCM (with the addition of Addie Bracy, Megan Hovis, and potentially Meagan Nedlo). Really, I'd like to use the positive experience as a driver for my training in the next 13 months.

On the horizon of 2011, I hope to achieve a new PR at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, Texas. This course will be run on miles 1-9 and 23-26.2 of the US Olympics Trials course. I am honored to have the opportunity, yet again, to run with Ruth Perkins. I also will get to watch Meagan Nedlo race for the Olympic Trials qualifying time. Not to mention that I will also be starting the race from the Houston Astros Minute Maid Field, which is Garrett's minor league affiliation, supplying me with yet another reason to run this race. Symbolically, my running endeavors will come full circle with Garrett's baseball endeavors as I run from the place where he strives to be in a couple of years. For these reasons, I am really looking forward to this race. Before then, I've got the USATF Club XC Champs in Charlotte as well as a 9 day excursion to Costa Rica with my family.

Further, Mark Hadley and I agreed that it would be best to focus on some of the USA Championship Races, such as the 15k and the 25k. I'll know more once 2011 gets here, so stay tuned.