More racing?

I try to get back to Iowa sometime every spring to visit my family, usually for a long weekend. I didn't last year, because the weather was bad in March and I took time off to run Boston, then this and that. This year, not running Boston has made it easier to fit my usual spring Iowa trip in again. I've made my travel arrangements, and I'm going to Iowa City at the end of the month. I looked at the Iowa race calendar at Fitness Sports to see if there might be any 5K or 10K or something to do while I am there, and discovered the Red Shoe Run in Iowa City which includes a half-marathon on what appears not to be a USATF-certified course that winds through the west side of town. I grew up on the east side, so I am not as familiar running-wise with that side of Iowa City, but perhaps it's better on the west side than on the east side because the east side can get a little hilly. This course appears to have an up-and-down blip in the middle and a bit of an uphill in the second half, but in general it looks pretty good.

I'm interested because I've been kind of wanting to run a race back home, but I'm a little on the fence about it because with my current race registration schedule, I'd be doing road races three weekends in a row:

April 23: 10-miler in Lewes
May 1: half-marathon in Iowa City
May 8: half-marathon in Wilmington

I'm not as worried about the impact of the 10-miler, as I can use that more or less as the week's long tempo workout and an easy long run the next day should be OK. The May 8 half is meant to be a final tune-up to gauge where I am before Vermont City and would also take the place of a long tempo workout. I think I can do the same with the Iowa City half; two long tempo efforts on the schedule for that week, making this race one of them should also be OK.

Last year's top 5 times for women were:

1:34:44
1:36:06
1:37:48
1:38:22
1:40:34

Judging by that, even if I run another meh result like Caesar Rodney, I could place well (unless quicker ladies get wind of the race and sign up this year and make it more competitive, which happens). And I may not run better than meh because I don't always feel all that great running right after I get to Iowa. Something about a day of traveling, usually involving poor eating and hydration, taking some time to get some rest and adjust to the time zone and altitude (haha! But seriously, Iowa City is about 500 ft higher than here.). I will have to run and get a workout in that day anyway, might as well enjoy it on the west side of my home town. I'll think about it.

I wanted to race more this year, as I think it's a good way to get hard efforts in, get sharp, and keep tabs on where my training is getting me. Last year I only did three races (!) the whole year: Caesar Rodney before Boston, then Boston, and then Des Moines with no tune-up in the weeks before. For the later marathon, I didn't really like not having a race under my belt as a gauge. I could only use what I'd done at Boston six months earlier. Three races in three weekends might sound like a lot, but if I don't go to the well during them, it shouldn't be much different than the hard workouts that were already on the plan for those weeks. Maybe it will be a mistake, but either way it's something I will have to learn by doing.