Anticipating SandBox Indoor Trail Marathon

With my 127th Marathon looming, one could think that the marathon itself may have gotten a little stale for me.  And I have often felt in races myself, "OK, let's get to mile 20 please so we can then really see what this race has in store."  However, I am giddy with excitement about the Sandbox Indoor Trail Marathon which I detailed in a blog posting HERE.

My goal for this race is no secret- I would like to go sub-3 hours for the third straight marathon this year. However, with the unique layout of the course, with what seems to be two right angle turns and no less than 5 curves to go around every lap (of ~105 laps, give or take), is that something I can do?  I have no idea and that is what is intriguing me!

I am also especially curious to see what riff-raff (and i include myself in this description) shows up to run this race.  I think that says a great deal about the character of the people who decided to try out a new race in a new venue in a completely unique fashion.  They are adventurers and experimenters.  You will have some plodders and you will probably have a 2:35 guy who is hoping to mop up the competition is a small-town race.

I do know one of my favorite people in the world will be there - Dani Ashford.  The former Minnesota golden Gopher Steeplechaser will be taking part in her third marathon.  I more or less convinced her to do this one since it is so close to her home.  So even though she is in the midst of packing her life into boxes for a cross-country and the ridiculous amount of snow and cold weather have kept her training down, she is doing the marathon as well.  And she has to be one of the favorites to win the women's race for sure.

Because of the unique surface of the race, I will be employing a product I use for slick footing back home in Salt Lake City called ICESPIKE.  Having utilized them in the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile trail race last year and seeing how they provided great footing but also were unobtrusive at the same time. I thought this would be the perfect place to try them in a race as well.

So there are all sorts of fun and interesting things to look forward to in this race.  it is going to be an exciting weekend for sure!