So, after earning these three new medals, I took the week off from training. Now, you may be wondering why, after talking about how important every training run and gym workout is so important, I would do such a thing. Well, there are two basic reasons.

First reason is that my wife and I have been working on updating our adoption portfolio. This portfolio is what an expectant mother and/or father will see to determine if they want to meet us in person about possibly adopting their child. We completed one of these when we finished our home study over three years ago. As you might imagine, a lot has changed in that time. Back then, I hadn’t even finished a half marathon. Now, I’ve finished 16 of them and 3 full marathons. This is just one thing that’s changed. So, I’ve taken some time this past week to work on the portfolio. It’s still not done, but is getting close. It’s hard to condense your life and the life of your spouse into 20 pages.

The second reason is that I’m currently in between training plans. Running the Rebel Challenge ended one training cycle. The training cycle for the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon starts one week from today! So, I still have a week without anything specific to run for. Since I have this 2 week gap between training cycles, there was an opportunity to take a week off. Also, I was feeling pretty tired after 19.3 miles.

Related t the second reason is that I wanted to take time to calendar and plan out how I want to get to my goals in 2016. With the Rock n Roll San Diego on 6/5/2016, I want to make sure that any races I plan will fit in the training schedule. Currently, the only race I’m signed up for in 2016 is the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. In between now and that race, I’ve decided on running two races…

Up first will be running the Knott’s Berry Farm Coaster Run 10K on March 6th. I haven’t signed up as of now. However, I’m planning on signing up. I ran the 5k version of this race in 2013. It was lots of fun. Plus, it gives me the fun of running through another theme park. I’m opting for the 10K this time because I have 7 miles on the training calendar for that day. So, 6.2 will be close enough so close to the start of my training cycle.

After that, I’m planning on signing up for the Angels Baseball Foundation 5K on April 9th. I ran in this race for three years in a row before missing it last year. It’s a super fun race for an Angels fan like myself. Plus, anytime I have the chance to run through Angel Stadium, it’s hard to pass on. I can’t remember why I passed last year. However, I totally regretted it. This year, the race falls on a weekend where I’ve got 10 x 8oo scheduled. So, I’m probably going to be heading to the track on the next day to get that speed workout in.

Another race I’m planning on adding to the calendar is the Bolder Boulder 10K. When I first started running, I worked near an attorney who was from Boulder, Colorado. He suggested that I run this 10K. Running at altitude will make this a challenging 10K. However, I’ve read such awesome things about this race. They hold the race on Memorial Day every year. May 30th puts this race in my Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon race week. So, adding it might not be the best thing for me. I’ll use this race as a training run for the next weekend.

That will take me to the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. My time goal still remains finishing in 2 hours, 30 minutes or less. I’m going to be using the Jeff Galloway Training Plan for time improvement for this race. The plan takes me up to 17 miles in training runs.

So, other than making plans this week, I also put my name into the lottery to gain an entry to the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon! I really want to run this race or some other fall marathon. I know that the odds are against me gaining an entry on the first try. However, you never know unless you try.

I’m also planning on putting my name in for the Marine Corps Marathon lottery. This race runs one week prior to the New York City Marathon. Everyone who I’ve met who has run this race loves it. So, it’s one of the marathons that’s on my bucket list.

I will also put my name in for the 2016 Chicago Marathon as well. This would be my third choice for fall marathons because it runs in the middle of October. I hated that all all of my crazy long runs were in the hottest months of the year in LA. However, I really want to finish a marathon in under 6 hours this year. So, to do that, I need a fall marathon to participate in. I figure that I’ll put my name in to these three and let the fates decide. In addition these, I’m trying to figure out if I want to sign up for the Space Coast Marathon in Florida. So many runDisney enthusiasts flock to this race. So, I know that registration is just as crazy as a runDisney race. On 2/15/2016, registration opens. So, I need to make my mind up before then.  The positives of this race include getting to hit up Walt Disney World at Christmastime. However, if I sign up for this race and get into the New York City Marathon, I’d have to marathons in the month of November. Can I handle that? Hmmmm.

Speaking of sign ups…February 2nd, registration for the 2016 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend opens. I had such a great time last year that I’m pretty sure that I’ll register for the Dumbo Double Dare again…maybe with the 5k thrown in for fun.

I worked hard for the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend races. So, I needed this past week off. However, I will never get to my goal of a 2 hour, 30 minute Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon in June or a 6 hour TCG NYC Marathon in November by making any more excuses. I’m back at it this week. The way I see it, this week is a tune-up to get me rolling into week 1 of Rock N Roll San Diego Half Marathon training.