So, when's your next marathon?

I've gotten that question...oh, a couple of times a month since my last marathon - Boston 2011, almost 18 months ago.  I vowed that I would not run a marathon in 2012, and would work on my short distance racing.  The last half marathon that I trained for specifically was Philadelphia 2011 - almost a year ago.  I am maxing out my race distance at 10 miles.  That is my plan for the spring too.  I haven't run more than 14 miles since...November?  I made marathoning my running life for 2.5 years, and now I have shifted gears completely.  Yet, it's still a question I get a lot, and it's still the way people introduce me, "This is Vanessa, she runs marathons."  Not so much lately, guys.
Don't think that I've forgotten about it.  Espeicallay on weekends like last once, with both the Chicago and Twin Cities marathons - so much news coverage on both.    People have been posting on Facebook about their long runs - hitting 18-20 miles on the weekend.  And I'm doing my own training too, it's not like I've stepped away from running completely.  But it a very different mindset.  I have a real racing calendar each season.  Instead of a marathon and maybe a half as a tune-up, I have 6 or 7 race per season, which is so much fun.  It takes some of the pressure off of each individual race.  Rather than having 4 months of training rest on one perfect day, golden opportunities are spread out - the odds for success go up.  Also, a long run of 12 miles on the weekend won't put me on the couch for the afternoon like a 20 miler would.
But I think about the marathon a lot.  Especially when people run great PRs after lots of training, and I think "I could hit those times too."  But, I've made a conscious decision to stay away from it, to focus on my speed, and eventually return to it.  My PR - 3:27:00 is now a bit "soft" compare to my other race distances.  And that was why I got into the shorter stuff to begin with - those times didn't match up to my work in the marathon, and I wanted to change that.  I know that when I return to the marathon, I'll be aiming for something close to 3:10.  I don't have an immediate desire to return to it, but maybe in 2014.  That way, I could get in a solid half marathon in 2013, and then train for the marathon in 2014.  Who knows.  That's the fun part of this whole life adventure.  If you had told me 5 years ago that I would run 1 marathon, let alone 6, I would have laughed.  So, when is my next marathon?
TBD.

IDK.

G2G.

26.2 4 Life!