Ever since then, I've never looked at marathon courses before running them. I think you can run faster if you don't know what's coming up around the corner. It keeps me from getting bored. At the end of track season, I never want to see another track. Cross-country is the same.
Road racing is more like candy, or the icing on the top of the cake.
Now it's time for me to take the next big step up to longer distances. I thought about running Boston last spring, but I didn't have enough time and my training didn't go that well. Now I'm definitely committed to running Boston next spring. I'm very excited about it. I logged more than 100 miles on the course last spring.