Two weeks ago, I received some pretty great news, and at the same time nerve wrecking news. I got accepted to run the 2015 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. My plan for this year was to train and run the BMW 42nd Berlin Marathon, I had previously deferred my entry from last year to this year, so I am excited to head out to Berlin with a few of my running buddies from NYC. Since my major goal is to run all or most of the World Marathon Majors, earlier this year I decided to enter the Chicago Marathon and press my luck with the lottery. My rule of thumb is, if you get picked from a lottery, at least for the World Marathon Majors, you run it. So my goal for this year is to run both, Berlin and Chicago, leaving me with two more majors to complete my current goal.
I am not all that nervous, I know it’ll be hard, training is always hard, but I know it won’t be impossible. The best thing about running Chicago after Berlin is that I won’t need much training for it. But I will definitely will be tired, and probably sore. After Chicago I should find out if I made the cut for the 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon. I entered the lottery for that a week ago, and the drawing will be sometime in October. My fingers and toes are crossed, because I know how extremely hard and very unlikely it is for overseas participants to get into London via lottery entry. I’m hoping I have great luck this year, so I can be closer to completing my running goal.
My marathon training starts in less than a month, June 8, 2015 to be exact. I’ll be using the Coach feature in the Nike Running app. I have used this feature for my past two marathon (NYC and Tokyo), so I feel confident to use them again for these upcoming two races. Nike+ Run Club has a great 18 week marathon race plan, the race plan I’m using will be for 16 weeks instead. Nike+ Run Club also has a great training plan to help you build a strong foundation. Running takes a lot more than just moving your legs, you need strong core, great arms, back, legs and of course feet. I’ll be using this training plan along with my marathon plan, so I can have great, injury-free, races later this year.
I’m really excited about the course for both races, below is the course map for Berlin Marathon:
and here’s the course map for Chicago Marathon:
I’ve heard great things about both courses/races and I can’t wait to experience them for myself.
As this post comes to an end, I must mention once again, that training will be hard. I only say this to let you know that even though I truly enjoy running marathons, they are not easy for me to do, and they are mentally challenging. I might make it look fun, but the best part is when you are not in the mood or mentally strong to finish a training run, and you push yourself past that comfort zone and realize “OH Wow, I did it! I GOT THIS! It wasn’t that bad. Yay, me!” I’ll be looking for that strong Arie soon, it’ll take some digging before I find her, but I know she’s in there somewhere. With that said, happy training for anyone training for a race this Summer/Fall.