Hi all -- I've lurked on these boards for quite awhile, and finally have a dilemma worth posting about.
First, some background: I am a fairly decent runner who does well in smaller, local races. I do not delude myself into thinking that I'm particularly fast, but I can usually place in my age group in a local half marathon.
I am looking to improve my marathon time, with the specific goal of running Boston in 2016. I ran a 3:04 and change at the Via Lehigh Valley marathon last year, but was shooting for sub-3 (based on my half marathon times, I should be able to run sub-3). I technically qualified for Boston (and can still use this time next year), but just barely. The good news is that I'm in a new qualifying age group (35) for the 2016 Boston race, so my qualifying standard will go up to 3:10. The bad news is that my 3:04 still might not be fast enough to make the Boston cutoff, what with the new rolling admissions.
I would like to once again run a marathon around the same weekend as last year's (early September), as I am a teacher/coach who does his best training over the Summer, but my weekend calendar is pretty much full for the first few weeks of September. Due to my job and social obligations, I also need to stick fairly close to home for a weekend race.
So, here are my options:
1) Run something like the Chasing the Unicorn race in PA in mid-August, which is a high-risk (it could be very hot!) but also high-reward (it is a fast course) option
2) Run a later race (the Hartford Marathon or Bay State marathon) and just hope that my 3:04 is quick enough to get me into Boston 2016
3) Run the Lehigh Valley race anyhow, even though I have a formal event in CT the night before (I'd rather not).
OR, are there other options I'm missing? Considering my situation, what option would you choose? Thanks in advance.