race planning!!

ok, i'm starting to get excited :) afore mentioned achilles injury seems to be healing swimmingly (ha ha) and i've started planning my race schedule for the year and set my finishing goals. this is highly inspiring to me - i love having a goal to work towards :)

so... my race schedule for 2008! key races for the year are in bold.

1. 12 april - les traine-savates, cheseaux-sur-lausanne - 10.4km

this will be my first time running this race. it looks pretty lovely - through the vineyards and countryside north of lausanne. a good first race of the season and a good practice leading up to my key goal race (see number 2).

2. 26 april - 20km de lausanne - 10km

i know it's called the 20km race but i am running the 10km version :) i would like to try the the 20km version, but it has a pretty steep climb in it and my knees would seriously have issue with that! i have run this 10km race a few times - last year with v! it has a fun atmosphere and i am hoping to reach my goal of a 50 min 10km here!

3. 1 june - frauenlauf - bern - 10km

another first time race for me and it's just for fun. my first all women's race!

4. 29 june - triathlon vallée de joux - sprint-ish distance

this looks like a beautiful triathlon up in the jura that i was planning to do last year but just didn't make it to. will be a wonderful warm up for the 'big one' (see number 5).

5. 12 july - zuri triathlon - olympic distance

my key triathlon for 2008. i have done this triathlon twice before (once at a medium distance and once at olympic distance). actually, mom was there when i did it the first time!! it is a very well run triathlon and is followed by the very inspiring ironman zurich the next day. this is the triathlon where i have set my triathlon goal to break 3 hours. this is a very challenging goal for me - in order for me to be successful, i will need to seriously improve on both my swimming and cycling :) the first step towards reaching an ambitious goal is setting it, i say!!

6. 13 september - triathlon d'aubonne - olympic-ish distance

i did this triathlon 2 years ago and the bike just about killed me :) i'm hoping it will be better this year as i'm getting slightly less pathetic at riding in the mountains...

7. 20 september - run to run carouge - 10km

ok, yes, 10km is my favorite distance to run :) i've run this race twice before, and i got SO close to cracking 50 min both times i'm positive that this year will be a sure thing...

8. 5 october - morat-fribourg - 17km

this one may have to fall by the wayside in lieu of marathon training but we'll see :) i've never done it before and with this being my last year in switzerland, i'm going to try to run this swiss classic.

9. 26 october - lausanne marathon - 42.2km

my first one. it is an out and back course i know pretty well as i've run the half marathon on this course 3 times before (the 'back' portion of the marathon). what scares me is that every time i've finished this half-marathon, my first thought is always - 'i can't imagine turning around and doing that again'. well... i'm gonna do it this year, if i can stay injury free :) i haven't decided if i want to try to do it in 4 hours or if i just want to set finishing as my goal.

also, the first half of this is to be run as part of the phedippidations world wide half marathon. read about it. it's cool. i'll write more about this wonderful event another time, i'm sure.

10. 6 december - course de l'escalade - 4.8km

this was my first official pure running race way back when and it is a hard one to describe. exciting, challenging, so much fun. i finished in just over 24 min last year and am hoping that lining up closer to the front (be on time, christine, be on time!) will help me to break my goal of 23 min this year. yay! i'm excited already :)

so there we go. that's the list. as i write it out, i'm thinking i might be a little overextended leading up the marathon and may have to rethink that.

here's to running, racing, and enjoying life :) now, who's running these races with me???