Racing decisions

Usually during the early months of a brand new year, I already have my entire racing season planned out. Not this year. I only had a few races picked out. Only a few races because they were major races; two 50 mile races, marathon and 24 hour race.

I will be running in the USATF 24 Hour National Championship in Cleveland, Ohio next week. I know I won't be running the entire time, but a good chunk of it. I will be stopping to eat, use the restroom, nap and change clothes. What has been holding me back on my future races is I don't know how my legs or body will feel after Cleveland. My legs and body recovered fairly quickly after my 50 mile race, just a few aches and pains. I took a week off after that race. I knew I was ready to run again after a few days.

A week after the 24 hour race, there is a local 5K. I decided against running a fast race so soon after. I threw that race entry into the recycle bin. I did hold onto a 10K race entry form. That 10K is two weeks following the 24 hour race. I should be ready to run that. Two weeks is plenty of time to recover from an event.

My schedule is still undecided after the 10K. I was looking at June races the other day. I found nearby half marathons and a marathon. I really don't know what to do. I ran a half marathon in June last year at that nearby location. It was warm and sunny day. Even though I wore sunscreen, I still got burned. If I ran the marathon, how would I do in the heat? I just ran my first marathon Sunday in 4:40, but it was cold and very windy. Would I do better in the heat? Should I skip the full and just run two half marathon weeks apart? So many questions.

I'm running out of time. I need to figure it out what I'm doing before the prices go up. I plan on making final decisions about the next few months of racing very soon.