starting to think about doing a marathon in the spring, dreaming of qualifying for chicago or even boston by time. so my races over the next ~10 months could look something like:
september 2025: parks half marathon (registered)
october 2025: patapsco 50k (registered)
november 2025: JFK 50 miler (registered)
(february 2026: ~100km FKT attempt?)
april 2026: marathon (e.g.,
coast guard,
delaware,
coastal delaware)
to qualify for chicago at age 39, i'd need to run sub 3:00. at age 40 (which i'll turn in late 2026), it goes up to 3:05. boston times are the same on paper but in practice are faster, from what i've read. currently, VDOT calculator estimates i'm in ~3:09 shape, based on my HM time. coros estimates 3:12, but it doesn't know about the weather. either way, sub-3 seems ambitious but not out of the realm of possibility, with increased mileage and consistency. i ran the 1:30 half with only one week at 40 miles and only 6 weeks over 30 miles in the previous 4 months. much room to grow.
not gonna do anything about it right now, i've got the two ultras this year to get through and that's enough to plan for. but it's fun to think about.
