Picking a Distance

Last week a got an email I've anticipated receiving each year for the past two years-Team CBC was letting me know they'd be open for team registration in a couple of weeks! Yay! Okay, let me back up a bit. Team CBC is a running team put together by the kind folks at CBC Halifax to run the various distances at the annual Halifax Bluenose Marathon in May.

It was the first running team I ever joined and its always been a wonderful experience. Not only do they host weekly team runs, give team members lots of free swag, host a bunch of free workshops and free cross training sessions at the local YMCA but they've also paid my registration for the Bluenose for the past two years! Of course I'll be joining again this year, but the next question is, What DISTANCE do I run?! The Wasskally Wrabbit 50k Trail race will be two weeks before the Bluenose this year. Last year they were only a week apart so I felt confident in choosing the 10k at the Bluenose, and everyone around me agreed, running a 10k race a week after a 50k seemed reasonable..well as reasonable as that whole sentence can sound to a normal person. When I got to the 50k trail race last year and was milling around the other runners someone brought up the Bluenose and then, of course, what distance everyone was doing. To my utter shock, they were all doing the full marathon. Yes, a 50k (or even an 80k for some) one weekend, just to turn around and run a 42k the next, and then some were even going to head up the coast and run a leg of the Cabot Trail Relay (not for the weak, you MUST maintain a 6:30 pace per km or better for each leg-no pressure or anything!).
This year thought I thought I'd up the ante a bit and figured if my husband would do the half marathon then I would run that with him. The other night I mentioned I wasn't sure which distance I'd run (meaning the 10k or the half) and he looked surprised, saying he thought I would do the full marathon. I did a double take..nope..that look said he was serious. Then I thought to myself..Could I really do it? Run a full marathon two weeks after a 50k? I'm still wondering.
My training has been pretty good. I like to think I've trained smarter and harder this year. I've averaged 50km or so each week, sometimes getting up to 66km. Starting this week I really amp up my long runs and I'm feeling good about that. I haven't pushed through illness like I did last year, I've taken time off when I feel I need it, then found the runs even better when I get back on track. My pace has improved a bit, not as much as I would like, so I'm keeping my speed workouts and hill runs going throughout my plan, unlike last year when I did them separately and dropped both altogether a few weeks before the 50k race. So do I have what it takes to finish a 42km race two weeks after a 50? I've read that if you're not planning on racing the second long distance race that anyone with 50k training could complete a 42 a few weeks after, so in theory it sounds fine, but I also don't want to be the last finisher of the 10 year anniversary of the Bluenose Marathon! Ahh, the inner debate continues..but hey..if you're reading this let me know what you think!