On 16 October 2011, the 8th running of the Nike Women’s Marathon will take place in San Francisco. Over the years, the Nike Women’s Marathon has exploded in popularity so much so that you can no longer simply register to participate in the event. Registration is via random draw only.
On 11 April, I received an email from the Nike Women’s Marathon announcing that registration for the random draw opened. Knowing how popular the event was and still feeling good from last fall’s half-marathons, I decided to register for the event. I chose the full marathon instead of the half-marathon primarily because I didn’t think my name would be drawn. If I had thought it through, I would have looked at my race schedule and noticed that I was already registered for the San Jose Rock-n-Roll Half-Marathon on 2 October 2011 and the Big Sur International Half-Marathon on 20 November. No one in their right mind would have put a full marathon in between those two half-marathons. Apparently I wasn’t in my right mind because I submitted my registration and then forgot all about it.
Tuesday the 26th of April was the day the Nike Women’s Marathon announced the winners of the random draw. I knew this not because it was marked on my calendar but because I saw some posts on Facebook from people who had registered and hadn’t been chosen. So I switched tabs to check my email and discovered an email from the Nike Women’s Marathon (NWM). I was in.
First excitement, then trepidation. Excitement because I was chosen. Trepidation because I truly believe that the half-marathon is my distance and I’m not convinced that I have the mental toughness to handle a full marathon. I know that physically I can finish the distance but my mental toughness is my challenge. Trepidation also because my fall race schedule already has two half-marathons, one two weeks before the NWM and one three weeks after the NWM.
The good news is that I have 5 months to work on both my mental toughness and my physical conditioning. It will definitely be an interesting journey.
Happy running!
Confessions of a Treadmill Runner 