If you read two blogs ago https://highfivingpalmtrees.com/2014/04/27/buster-ivory-and-the-cyprus-3-on-tour-2014-part-2 you’ll know that I received some extraordinary news some weeks ago which at the time I declined to share.
The news is to do with running, so I’ve just lost half of you who are not interested in that, but for those who are, I’ve had to think long and hard about it before I could decide what to do about it.
So, I’ve finally decided to go with it and……. I’m running The Chicago Marathon on October 12 the this year!
While we were driving through the middle of France in the pitch darkness due to my error in programming the SatNav, I checked my emails and lo…. I’d actually won a ballot place in the Chicago Marathon.
I was absolutely stunned by this news. I’d forgotten that I’d entered the ballot because it came up as an option when I received the disappointing news that yet again I had not obtained a place in the New York Marathon and I just filled in the application on auto-pilot without really knowing anything about this race.
Doing some checking I realised that it is actually a big deal to get into Chicago as it is one of the 5 Major Marathons. The others are London (Tick) New York, Boston, Berlin and Tokyo, and so to get a ballot place is like getting Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket.
I was torn, because amazingly I also had a ballot place for that same day for the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London and I’ve been trying to get into that for several years and really wanted to run it, but after everything had sunk in I realised that the Chicago opportunity is really much less likely to ever occur again and so I’M GOING FOR IT!!
The best thing about it is that my Lovely Lulu and her family live in Chicago and so it’s a brilliant excuse to go visit!
No doubt you’ll be hearing more about this in future blogs but for now I suppose I’d better actually start running properly again and get training!
High-Fiving Palm Trees 