Yo! To Philly We Go!

November 18, 2007
Philadelphia, PA
The City of Brotherly Love
The Liberty Bell
The Home of Rocky Balboa
A fast flat marathon course, ranked #1 by Runner's World Magazine and the location of my next marathon.

As I spent five days in Boston, I thought a lot about what it would take to bring me back someday. I saw an old city full of character and history. I thought about my finalists and thought about the time I had to prepare for each. I thought about a lot of things. Each time, Philadelphia kept entering my thoughts. I think Philadelphia and Boston are quite similar. Close to the coast, older neighborhoods, and tons of American history.

It really was a no-brainer. It leaves me the maximum amount of time to prepare and run a marathon in this calendar year. I've actually thought about my "lineup". Ideally, I will qualify for Boston in Philadelphia. That will enable me to run Boston in either 2008 or 2009. I will use it in 2009 and will take 11 months to recharge myself and run Chicago in October 2008. That will help to springboard me to Boston in 2009. Worst case scenario; I don't qualify for Boston in Philadelphia in November, and then run the next best place to do it (Chicago) and I also avoid having to do another spring marathon until I get to go to Boston. (winter running sucks).

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Philadelphia, 2007. My choice for #4.