Fall Plans

Many of you have been asking me what fall race I'm training for. Well, I finally figured that out myself. I am not running a fall marathon this year. The Jewish holiday "season" starts very soon after Labor Day and runs (no pun intended) through the first weekend of October. Similar to the Sabbath there are days during that time where I do not run. Instead I will be spending a lot of time in synagogue reflecting on the past year (5770) and praying for a successful, happy, and healthy 5771. Once my holidays are over we have several Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations to attend. Some of these start with services in synagogue in Sunday morning followed by a reception. To make a long story short, I simply do not have time this fall to devote to the marathon.

So what are my plans?

• On September 26 I will be running the Newport Liberty Half Marathon in Jersey City, NJ. I will not be running this race for myself. Rather I will be pacing a friend to what will be his first sub-2:00 half marathon.
• A few weeks later on October 17, I will be running the Terri Roemer Paramus Run. I'll  be running the 10k. It's been a while since I raced a 10k and I'm hoping for a new 10K PR. There are also kids races so I hope to bring Lil Ansky with me and run with her after my 10k.
• November 14 is the annual 5k to benefit the scholarship program at my daughter's school. I have to be at this race. The 5k is my least favorite distance but I have to participate.
• I'll probably close out my 2010 racing season with a Turkey Trot. The past 2 years I've run the Dick Meighan Memorial 5k in Upper Saddle River, NJ. Like I just said, I'm not the biggest fan of the 5k, so I'm also considering the Rockland Road Runners Thanksgiving Day 5 Mile Turkey Trot.

I'm looking forward to all of these races. I can definitely train well for them and enjoy my holidays. I've already started to give some thought to my spring 2011 marathon which I'll share in a future post.