I am pleased to report that the Chicago Marathon has accepted my application to start in Corral B of the First Wave. This will place me near the front of the race, and will cut down on the "waiting around" that is typical of a race with 40,000 runners. Instead of crossing the finish line 20-30 minutes after the gun goes off, I'll start about 5 minutes after the elites head out. I met the qualification requirement for Corral B with my 1:34 at the NYC Half Marathon this past March. It's very gratifying to see that my improved training, fitness, and speed is already paying off.
And for those who are interested, the Chicago Marathon organizers recently posted the 2012 course map.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Two Months to Go Until Chicago
Two months from today, I will be running the Chicago
Marathon. Time has really flown by since
I decided at the beginning of the year to sign up for the race. The training is going well, and I’ve set a
number of pr’s at other distances: 5K, 10 miles, and half marathon. In short, I’ve had the best year of running
and racing since I took up this madness over 10 years ago. I’m confident that on October 7th,
I’ll set a new pr in the marathon, but will it be enough to qualify for
Boston? We’ll know in 60 days. In the meantime, I’m going to continue to
train, eat healthy (always a challenge for me), and update this blog more
often!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Another PR!
I did it again on Saturday. I set another pr, this time at the Purple
Stride 5K in a time of 20 minutes, 18 seconds, which translates to 6 minutes
and 32 seconds per mile. To top it off, I
came in 21st place overall out of 537 runners and 4th out
of 67 male runners aged 30-39. I was
actually near the front within spitting distance of the real runners, those who
looked the part. You know, the men and
women who are rail skinny, have easy strides, and probably ran cross country or
track in college. There is definitely a
measure of satisfaction to know that I’m almost as fast as they are, and that the
training has paid dividends already. But
I am not going to let that go to my head.
I know there is still a long, long way to go before Chicago and reaching
my dream of a Boston qualifying time.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Introduction and Welcome
My 2012 racing season has gotten off to a rip-roaring start. I’ve run four races and set three pr’s. It started with the New York City Half Marathon, where I finished in 1:34:49, breaking the pr I set last November in Philly by almost 6 minutes. Two weeks ago I set a pr at the 10 mile distance by running the Broad Street Run in 1:10:28. And just last Friday, on a lark while on a business trip to Charlotte, I decided to run the Twilight 5K (registered 45 minutes prior to the start) and finished in 21:36, beating the pr I set last October by 2 seconds.
It was only five years ago that I was saddled with a bum right ankle and not quite sure whether I would ever run again. The very idea of setting pr’s and maxing out seemed beyond my grasp; I couldn’t walk, let alone run, and after the surgery, followed by a very tough recovery, the thought of running sub-7:00 minute miles at any distance was a pipedream. But over the past 18 months, something has happened --- my legs feel fresh, my ankles and knees are sturdy, and I’m more motivated than ever to qualify for Boston
This fall I’m going to run the Chicago Marathon, ten years after the very first time I ran that race, my first 26.2 ever. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs during that time – great new job, the purchase of my first home, the passing of my grandparents and my dear friend Kate, minor and major injuries, but through it all, running has played an important part of my life. And so, I’ve started this blog to share my thoughts about the sport that is so important to me as well as the trials and tribulations of training for Chicago and trying to hit that holy grail of running – a Boston
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