NYCM Replacement Race

When I found out that the NYC Marathon was cancelled I decided I would run the Philadelphia Marathon instead. Except the Philadelphia Marathon was closed within an hour of the cancellation. I thought about running Richmond but really had no desire to make that my first marathon. I've heard great things about Richmond but I just couldn't get mentally on board for that race. I didn't really know of any other races within the next few weeks that would be easily able to get to so I decided to run a half marathon in December and shoot for another PR. I figured I would just retrain and run a spring marathon.

Late Saturday night, after spending the day exploring New York I started thinking about how I did want to run a marathon this fall. My training may not have been perfect but I still trained with the intention of running marathon on November 4th. I called my mom but was still undecided about what I should do. I decided to sleep on it and decide later. When I woke up in the morning I went for a run in Central Park and decided during that run that I needed to run a marathon this fall.

I had heard about a small marathon being held on November 11th in Harrisburg, Pa about 45 minutes from my parents house and a little less than two hours from my apartment at school. I was hesitant about running such a small marathon since crowd support really helps get me through races. Once I got home I checked out the facebook page I saw that dozens of fellow displaced NYC marathoners would be running this race. I saw how accommodating the race officials were and knew this would be a great race.

Harrisburg Marathon- November 11, 2012

If it is even possible I may be more excited for this race than I was for the NYC Marathon. This whole thing has been such a unique experience and I am in a weird way glad to be a part of it. My respect towards the running community grew exponentially this weekend and after spending the weekend touring the city and am itching to run the race next year. I never would have imagined this is how everything would have turned out but I am excited and ready to take on the challenge.