When I run a race, I usually try to finish as quickly as possible. There is, however, another option.

Actually, there are always infinite options in life, including chucking your job and all that you own, and moving to your favorite fantasy destination, but I digress.

There are races in which the goal is not how fast, but how far. DNF (did not finish) aside, everyone's time is the same, from first place to last. It's how far you travel in that time that matters.

The same good folks who bring us the Stonecat ultra and trail marathons, Topsfield, Mass., based Gil's Athletic Club, also have a six-hour Mother's Day run (and three hour walk), to raise money for breast cancer research. The application is here on their Web site.

The course is a wheel-measured three-mile loop of trail and grass through the Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield, Mass. One could get dizzy running in such a tight circle for six hours!

I'm not sure whether a six-hour run would fit nicely into my training, as I gear up for my first marathon of the season, but I'm thinking about it.... I've often thought it would be interesting to do that type of race, and six hours sounds a whole lot more manageable than the 24-hour variety.