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Last news I received a very exciting email from the New York Road Runners - I'm IN for the New York City Marathon 2011!

I remember how I felt last year when I found out I had my entry. I was caught completely off-guard, and wasn't quite ready to run a marathon. I had run a half marathon in the beginning of March, and trained mostly on the treadmill...and if I'm completely honest with myself, I was probably averaging 15 miles/week running 3-4 times a week.  After the race, I ended up taking a brief hiatus from running. I remember my first race back was the Healthy Kidney 10K, which is coming up in two weeks (but between the Wall Street Run and the Brooklyn Half, I won't be running this year). A few weeks later the opportunity to run the marathon literally landed in my lap.  Sure, I wasn't quite ready to run a full marathon...but it was always a dream of mine to run the New York Marathon, there was no way I could turn down the opportunity.  I kicked it into running gear, and tried to play catch up before I started training. Halfway through training, I ended up with an overuse injury.  If I'm honest with myself - I think my long runs consisted of 1 16 miler, 1 18 miler and 1 20 miler. I ran a half marathon as a time-predictor in October, but it ended up exacerbating the injury. My knee came back to haunt me during the race at mile 8, and it never really let up for the rest of the race.   I also hit the wall pretty hard - part of which can be attributed to poor nutrition during the race, I believe. I ended up finishing in 5:04. I was very proud that I finished the race at all...but, at the same time, I knew I could do better next time.

Well, this year there's no more nervous excitement...I'm just AMPED and ready to go! I've been averaging 25 miles/week for the past month, and at least 20 miles for two months before that. I have about 2 months to slowly and comfortably bring that to 30 miles/week before I start training.  I set a new half marathon PR earlier this year, and I know I'm mentally tough enough to race in the bitter cold and in the pouring rain. I know I need to choose a training plan that calls for 3 20-milers, and a handful of 18s and 16s.  I know what to expected on the course - slow, steady inclines, turns that make it difficult to run the tangents, and very crowded aid stations.  So bring it NYCM...I'm coming for you.