It’s official! Today I was able to register for my guaranteed entry to the 2010 ING NYC Marathon!! I am so excited that I can barely stand it. Good thing because i’m sure i’ll need to remember some of this energy and excitement when i’m having to rearrange weekend plans to meet the needs of long runs or can barely walk up and down stairs due to sore legs.

According to the NYRR website, a person may earn guaranteed entry via one of four ways:
-NYRR 9 in 2009: Members of New York Road Runners since January 31, 2009, who completed at least nine NYRR-scored, qualifying races, and who have volunteered for one event, during the calendar year 2009.
-Entrants in the ING New York City Marathon 2009 who canceled prior to the race.
-Those who have completed 15 or more New York City Marathons. (WOW!!)
-Those who have applied but been denied entry for the last three years in a row (2007, 2008, and 2009), and who did not secure an entry through alternative methods in those years.

Bo and I knew last year when he moved to NYC that completing the NYC Marathon at least once while we lived here was one of the items on our joint “bucket list.” After we completed our first NYRR event last year we decided that this would be a perfect way to discover the city, meet people, and achieve a fitness level neither of us ever thought possible. We therefore chose the most cost effective method, the NYRR 9 in 2009. Last year we ran the following together:

1 1 miler

Since neither of us were runners growing up and have only recently fallen in love with running, I know how important proper training will be for this endeavor. Therefore, i’m hoping that we will be able to participate in the NYRR or another similar training group to receive proper coaching, tactics, and motivation. But, I also hope that some of the Marathon Princesses out there like Bobbi, Meghann, and Caitlin will also be helpful in providing some suggested reading, plans, and workouts. As i’ve discussed previously, my January goal was to get back into the gym and take my workouts to a level they hadn’t reached in the past few months. Thus far, i’ve achieved that having worked out at Equinox 21 of the days in January and enjoying at least 3 yoga and spinning classes per week. In addition, last night I ran my first 6 mile run in over 4 months. While my pace has increased a bit (10:10 last night) it was a great hurdle to overcome and know that i’m back on the right path.

I would love any book or training plan suggestions you have. While I realize the race is 285 days away (who’s counting?) I want to make sure they I train well for this event. Based on previous experiences, training properly makes all the difference and for me that includes proper nutrition, exercise, stretching, and sleep.

I look forward to your suggestions, ideas, and motivation over the months! Who knows, maybe i’ll even learn to take an attractive action shot while running. 🙂

Also, on another topic, there are some great giveaways going on right now including:
–MissyMaintains is giving away 3 @thelitechoice coupons! Check it out
-Join Tina and Kathy over at Quaker to Create Your Day! To help encourage participation, for each Quaker oatmeal creation, Quaker will donate $1 to Share Our Strength , up to $25,000, until March 31, 2010. Go to QuakerOats.com/CreateYourDay for more info.
-Jump on over to http://krittie.wordpress.com/ to win this great Oikos giveaway!