The Road Ahead: Indecision 2010

You've got to start somewhere

flickr photo by: marcus_jb1973

With 2009 lurching to its conclusion it’s time for me to look ahead to next year to determine which events to sign up for. I already have two races firmly scheduled–the Chevron Houston Marathon in mid-January, and the Kaiser Permanente Half on February 5th. Beyond that, however, my plans are still in a state of flux.

For example, I’d love to run the Oakland Marathon in late March in order to show some support for the folks organizing that East Bay race, but it’s too close to the Napa Valley Marathon at the beginning of March. Since last year’s NVM was marked by a wet, rainy course along with the longest stretch I’ve ever walked during a race, I feel like I’ve got a little unfinished business in the Wine Country. Perhaps Oakland moves to the half marathon group, or I could run as part of a relay team–an idea which has been floated by other dailymilers. But as of today, I’ve signed up for neither race.

October offers three marathons I’d love to do, but two of them fall on the same day, and one occurs a scant week before the others. My in-laws would love to see me come out to Minnesota to run in the Twin Cities Marathon on October 3rd. Meanwhile the Portland Marathon and Chicago Marathon are both running the next week on 10/10/10. Two marathons a week apart are still too much for me at this point in my running career, so I’ll probably put Twin Cities on the back burner. But how to decide between Portland and Chicago? I have a lot of friends planning on running Portland this year, and I’d love to hang out with them for a weekend of running in the The City of Roses. On the other hand, the idea of taking part in a big city race like Chicago’s with its enthusiastic spectator support is appealing. Of course, the New York City Marathon would satisfy my big city race desire, but I’d have to endure the fickle lottery in order to take part.

Then, of course, there’s my hometown San Francisco Marathon. I’ve run it twice now, and along with the been-there-done-that quality which dampens my enthusiasm for that race, there’s the appalling lack of spectator support which has me thinking about running one of the half marathon segments instead of the full race.

So there you have it. As I sit on the eve of 2010, I have the broad strokes of a 2010 race plan sketched out, but the fine details have yet to be added (and the entry fees have yet to be sent in). And to really complicate matters, I haven’t even thought about adding in a trail race or relay event to mix things up a bit. Perhaps after the champagne corks pop tonight and I’ve had a day or two to recover I’ll have a clearer head and my 2010 racing calendar will come into clearer focus. Whether it does or not, I look forward to seeing you all out there in the new year.

Mile After Mile

Hey, who's that handsome runner?

After seeing the site mentioned in a few Twitter posts, I decided to check out dailymile.com, “A social training log for runners, triathletes, and cyclists.” I haven’t delved too deeply into the site just yet, but I’ve already used it to log a couple of recent training runs, and I’ve enjoyed using the site.

Dailymile features a clean, web 2.0 interface with lots of colorful, Apple-style graphics and navigation icons. Like Facebook, the site allows you to connect with other users, send notes to one another, connect to events in your area, upload photos and video, all while updating a log of your activities and the changes you make to your profile. Once you sign on with an account, you can create a typical social media-style profile which allows you to include bio information, upload an avatar, and link your posts to your Twitter feed. You can tell Dailymile which activities you’re into-cycling, running, triathlon, for example-what your training goal is, and where you live. As the site grows and people begin to friend each other up, users will probably use this geographical information to form running and cycling groups or let Dailymilers know about fitness meet-ups in their area.

Of course, the main purpose of dailymile is to keep track of your training output. And while hard-core athletes who weigh themselves after each bowel movement may not find the web site robust and full-featured enough for their needs, I like the way the site keeps track of and displays the mileage and time data you input. It even calculates your pace so no more doing math in your head or using another third-party site. You can even add a note including one of the dailymile’s emoticons to let everyone know how you felt during your workout, which drives one of the cool social media-driven aspects of the site. If you post notes with a “blah”, “tired”, or “injured” emoticon, you may find yourself listed under the People tab in the “Athletes who need motivation” section. Here you can send other dailymilers a little training love with a “Congrats” or “Nice Job” blast, or, if you’re feeling a little competitive, an “I’ll Beat You” notice.

Dailymile emerged from invitation-only beta today, so, while social media stalwarts like badges and links to Twitter are already offered, integration to mapping web sites like MapMyRun.com isn’t. Until then, the I-don’t-run-in-the-shade-because-tree-leaves-screw-up-my-Forerunner-data crowd will probably stay away, but the Facebook and Twitter set will feel right at home.

Check them out at www.dailymile.com.

What are some of your favorite fitness web sites?