Building my 2009 race calendar

I’m sort of in denial about the fact that I’m running a marathon in 3.5 weeks and I’ve starting thinking about races I’d like to do in the first half of 2009. There’s nothing I like more that making training plans! Here’s the list of current contenders:

• Sun Feb 8 – Love ‘em or leave ‘em 5K – The start of this race is 1 mile from my apartment and it’s run around Green Lake. I’ve done this race twice before and it’s a lot of fun even though it gets a bit crowded on the trail.
• Sun Mar 22 – Mercer Island Half Marathon – This is a local half that I’ve actually never run before and I’d like to give it a go.
• Sun Apr 19 (?) – Vancouver Sun Run 10K – My 10K PB could use some lowering but I’m not sure that world’s third largest 10K is really the place to do that.
• Sun Apr 26 – Victoria TC 10K – The start is within walking distance of Matt’s apartment and this race is probably a better opportunity to PB than the Sun Run.
• Sun May 3 – Vancouver (Half) Marathon – I’ve done the half twice so it might be time to try something new. If I do a spring marathon (unlikely but who knows) this one would be a good choice though.
• Sun May 10 – Kirkland Half Marathon – This is another local half. I did it in 2006 as a training run. It has a huge hill but it’s a nice small race.
• Sun May 24 – Oak Bay Half Marathon – This is another Victoria race. The start isn’t super conveniently located but the course looks good.
• Sun Jun 28 – Scotiabank Vancouver Half – I keep meaning to do this race but something always seems to get in the way. It’s a net downhill course which would be interesting to try.

Right now I’m leaning toward doing a subset of the Love ‘em or leave ‘em 5K, Mercer Island Half, Times Colonial 10K and Oak Bay Half. I’ll reassess in the new year and see what will fit into my schedule. I’d really love to bring down my 10K and half marathon PBs next spring!