Thursday, April 21, 2016

Day 3,399: Lottery Winner! (Bank of America Chicago Marathon)

I only see my goals, I don't believe in failure/
'Cause I know the smallest voices, they can make it major
 -Lukas Graham

It was late at night, a little like tonight, when I was a click monkey and entered the lottery for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

Why not? I thought. Sure it was a few months ahead of my plan to start training in August for possibly the Houston Marathon in January.

But what changed my mind were a slew of PRs this year, including my 1:42:40 finish last month in the Publix Georgia Half Marathon. I felt that my training was good enough right now and that I wouldn't want to wait until next year to try to run my sixth marathon.

Yet when the days creeped over to today's notification, I kind of hoped I wouldn't be selected. I would have more time to train in August as opposed to having to start in July after the Peachtree Road Race.

But that's not what happened. I'll be back this fall to run in my hometown's most famous race for the second time, with all thoughts of besting my marathon experience in 2010 in which I finished just minutes after four hours.

On that day, 10-10-10, I was sad. I was 39 years old and thought it was my best shot at breaking four hours in a marathon. Five and a half years later, I know how much my running has improved.

And I know, much better than before, that my running will continue, that a finish line is never the final chapter.

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