Redwoods Marathon is Off

I thought this day might come. My brother Mark just told me he will not be ready for the October 18 Redwoods Marathon. I was to pace him in his first marathon. He's injured (foot) and won't be back in time to run by October. It's tough to train for your first marathon--injuries are very common. Fortunately, his foot doesn't seem too bad and he should be back to easy training within a couple weeks. We picked the northern California race since our sister went to college there and loved the area. There are tons of marathons to chose from, so we'll find another good one. In fact, there is another version of the Redwoods Marathon in May--the Avenue of the Giants Marathon. Or if he recovers quickly, maybe the Seattle Marathon around Thanksgiving--that's in his backyard! Or maybe a a marathon in my area in December...Tecumseh Trail Marathon? Lots of choices.

Now that the October 18 date is cleared from my calendar, I can run the Farmdale 32 miler on October 17. This is its 4th year and I've run the first three races. I like that I've run every race so far...might as well keep that streak up! Also, Farmdale is the last race in the 4-race Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam. We give out Grand Slam awards at the conclusion of the Farmdale event. Farmdale is a nice trail ultra and I'm now looking forward to knocking off the last 2 races in the Slam (Farmdale plus the Rock Cut Hobo 50K on Sept 20). My training is on track and I feel good. We'll see how I do at the Hobo 50K. I'm optimistic that I can get a personal best (PB) for each race.