Act now -- less than 5,000 entries available

Fleet-footed Frankie sent me a friendly email today saying that there are "less than 5000 entries available" for this year's Bank of America Chicago marathon. No additional words of encouragement to sign up, the subject line spoke for itself as a forwarded newsletter from the Chicago organizers. So I signed up; if I were to be honest, I was probably eventually going to register but wow, look at that,  30,000 others have already done so in less than two months? No harm to sign up, except that it'll cost me US$170 (thankfully, the Canadian dollar is at more than 3 year highs today. Where will it be in October? Hello, cross-border shopping on the MagMile). Training will seriously start after the snow goes away. Maybe I'll sign up for the Sporting Life 10K next to get me on track for the spring. 

If life events take over that prevent me from going to Chicago, that's cool, but I can at least give myself the option before registration fills up. I think I would have regretted it terribly if I was shut out of the option at least to participate in the five-year anniversary run with Frankie and Yumke through the beautiful city of Chicago. Also W, my BFF is going, and a bunch of Frankie's siblings.  It's going to be a great time. For now, Deep Dish Pizza: you and I have a date on Oct. 9. 

Return

Maybe it's time to revive this blog, just as I've revived running outside. I took my very clean (ie, little used) running shoes out for a 3-mile run today on the slushy sidewalks of this city. It also got me thinking about what my last blog entry was... and they were thoughts before the Around the Bay Race.... of  2010 (almost a year ago!). No follow-up entry. Short version: the race, as I recall, was a lot of fun and I achieved my goal to complete. Given that I hadn't trained that well for it, I still remember being in pretty good spirits the whole way through, even with the wet snow in the last couple of Ks, even with some guy dressed as the Grim Reaper taunting me, and even if my better trained friends had to wait more than an hour for me to cross the finish line. 

Over the last year, I haven't run very much except for a semi-consistent stretch in the summer when I was away for a few weeks on assignment. Alone in the city, running was something to do and nice way to see some neighbourhoods. Back at home, it's something to do as well but typically overtaken by no will. I even quit the gym that used to be such a regular part of the routine. 

So what's the inspiration to come back from the dead? Two friends are returning to Chicago this fall to run the marathon that the three of us each did as our first-ever marathon five years ago. The idea has some merit, although the US$170 entrance fee is quite the steep commitment. When I ran this marathon I was coming off a hacking cough and it definitely affected my performance. I've always wondered what I could do if I was healthy, having just stuck mainly to a handful of half-marathons and lesser-mileage races since. A couple of other friends have signed up for the race in the Windy City.... does peer pressure win?