Planning For Next Season

I've been trying to post this on the Team Compex blog but haven't been able to. So it's here and I'll get it up there too. Sorry for the somewhat duplication from the last post.

Everyone has been so good about recommending late season marathons that I thought I’d solicit your help. As of Tuesday, I’ll know better about whether I’ll be able to race or not next year and I’m trying to put together a plan of races that are really going to excite me - either a great challenge or really fun or something else that sets them apart and is really motivating.

Some specific races that I’m currently tossing around include:

Short Course Duathlon Nationals in April (and then Worlds in the fall if I qualify)

Kinetic Half Ironman in May (this is a definite, I’m going to do with a friend)

American Zofingen Duathlon in May (a maybe, debating between sanity of the short course (5/29/5 or the insanity of the long course (5/84/15)

Rev 3 Quassy Half Ironman in June (this is for my family so this is a definite)

Half Full Triathlon in October (I’d like to go back when I’ve trained)

Some other ideas that I have but which I don’t have a lot of specificity on:

A trail ultra - Some friends are going to apply for the Leadville 100 MTB Ride which made me think maybe trying to get into that 100 Trail run but (a) my asthma probably isn’t going to support that altitude and (b) I should probably start with 50 miles (I’ve done 50k). I think a mountain bike race would be fun, but I’m not a good mountain bike rider so 100 miles is daunting enough that I don’t think Leadville MTB is for me. But which 50 or 100 should I try?

An Ironman - I’m going to do one at some point. Why not now when I need something really motivating to get me going? But if so, which one? I’m not good in heat. I’m not that good on hills. I’m actually not that good on flats either - rollers would be nice.

A marathon - I’ll learn more from my doctor on Monday but I don’t think my knee is going to support my marathon this fall so that is likely to become a half-marathon. Which means I should try a marathon again next year.

A mountain bike race - Why not? I won’t be good which means it will be just like by road bike and cylco-cross racing.

So I’d love ideas. Where do you think I should put Compex to work next year?