Yep. I've lost it. I went and got on board for not one, but two, big adventures over the several months. First up - the Kiawah Marathon - FULL marathon - and second, the Palmetto70 Relay (the shorter version of the Palmetto200). Wait, what? For real. 

So all of that is happening. And there is some reasoning to my madness here. Originally, I was entertaining the idea of running my second full marathon in March 2016 at Myrtle Beach. But March can be fickle with weather and the thought of dragging training on that long (from August until March) just wasn't sounding fun to me. 

Then a fitness group I'm a member of here in Charleston (FiA Charleston) decided to get together and do the Palmetto200 and the Palmetto70 races, which are in March. I signed myself up for the Palmetto70 and I'll be running that with 5 other FiAs. So then, if I were to run the full in March, I'd be doing the relay, too. So, no. No, no, no. 

Enter: Kiawah.

It's the perfect time. It fits right into my training for the Myrtle Beach Mini and I can follow one training plan! It's really much better timing than trying to train for the Mini, train for Charleston (half), train for a full, train for a relay, etc. This way, it's essentially one training cycle for the half and the full, with the same coach I'm using now, and the I'm done with major training until next fall. For the Charleston half (and Disney), all I'll have to do is maintain mileage for a few weeks and I'll be fine. This also leaves time for me to train for a sprint triathlon in April, which will give me some variety and a break from super long runs. Win, win all around. 

I've come to the realization that fall is the best time for me to run longer distance races. While December is still fickle (heck most months here are fickle, unless it's summer, then it's guaranteed to be miserable), it's a little better than March. I don't, as of yet, have fall allergies that even come close to how awful my spring ones are. And fall in general just gets me motivated. Hey, kids have Back to School, I have Back to Racing. It's a thing, you guys. 

So there you have it. My training just went up a notch. Kiawah, here I come.