Thursday, April 26, 2012

New York City Marathon: I'm In

The ING New York City Marathon is scheduled for Nov. 4, and it will be my 10th marathon or ultra - my milestone marathon! It also will be my third time running the greatest marathon on Earth.

Yesterday was #INGNYCM Opening Day and I look forward to running in the same field as Olympians like Ryan Hall. I am especially sympathetic to the 100,000 runners who got the lottery rejection. That was me last year so I can relate, and I decided to do something about it. The chances of making the lottery are only 9 out of 100 so you can forget about that route. I run at least 9 NYRR races (+1 volunteer) in the year before so I am guaranteed to be in the NYCM field, and that is the way to go if you are local. Anyone else can raise $2750 for a charity as I did in 2007 with Team For Kids.

That was my first marathon, within a year of my decision to trade a box of KOOLS for a box of ASICS. Here is my rundown, in reverse order:

April 2012: Marathon de Paris - Hard head-on wind all day made it tough but I was healthy and strong and posted my best time in four years. Did I just do that?



January 2012: Miami Marathon - I.T. Band syndrome presented at Mile 16 and stole an hour.























January 2010: Miami Marathon - Giant blister on sole the last 14 miles. Running Miami Beach rocks.























May 2009: New Jersey Marathon - Ran the whole way in the rain and proposed to Lisa at finish line.



November 2008: Knickerbocker 60K - 9 laps around Central Park no prob.



November 2008: New York City Marathon - My P.R. and my best body since I was a teenager.























July 2008: Statues on Parade Marathon - Invented my own MLB.com event to see all 42 All-Star statues in NYC, supported by Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Foundation.



April 2008: St. Louis Marathon - Meant so much because my boys were waiting at the finish line.























November 2007: New York City Marathon - My first 26.2, raised $2500 to help kids get active and finished despite a bad case of plantar fasciitis.



Some of the older blog posts have missing images, but the info is there. For me personally, it is good to go back and look and remind myself of what has kept me going. I will run for the rest of my life!

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