For a while I did not know whether I would run a marathon this year, mainly due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and human response. (I know that because of that fall marathons may still change formats.) At the beginning of this year I stated my goal of chasing my half marathon PR> While I still want that, and thankfully have my fitness back after Covid, I just can’t quit the marathon.

Back in February, I got an email about registration for the Chicago Marathon. I no longer have an automatic time entry thanks to my fastest marathon times resting back in 2014 and 2015, so I entered the drawing. I forgot about that entry until the final week of March when I got an email about needing to update my payment selection. It took me a few seconds but I realized that meant I had gotten in!

So, in a couple months I will dive into marathon training for the first time in over a year. More than that though, I will start fully dedicated marathon training for the first time in quite a while.

So why Chicago?

I have already run Chicago. Technically, this marks my third registration since I had to DNS back in 2015. For someone who has stated a goal of running a marathon in every state, it does not make sense for me to duplicate a race. I guess it all boils down to priorities or which goal or desire ranks higher. Even though I did not have the day I wanted the first time I ran, I still fell in love with the race. Plus, I have mentioned before how much I have fallen in love with Chicago and especially with running in Chicago. So, when it comes to my first marathon post height of the pandemic, how could I choose anything other than Chicago?