Some great news

Congratulations! You have been accepted to run the ING New York City Marathon 2009 on Sunday, November 1. On behalf of New York Road Runners, I welcome you to the 40th running of the world's greatest marathon. One of the things that makes this race so special is runners like you from around the world, and we're hard at work preparing to give you the experience of a lifetime.

Woohoo - I'm over the moon. While I've never actually had doing a marathon high up on a list of things to do (I don't have such a list), I figured if I did one, I'd like it to be one of the big ones: New York, Chicago, Boston, Berlin, London. The ones in the states really appealed, New York mainly because I'd never been there before.

So while I've entered the lottery for London about 4 times now (three consecutively) I decided to throw my hat in for the NYC marathon earlier in the year. It was an $11 entry fee which I reckoned was worth the risk - there were other ways in, either down the charity route (which I've never been a big fan of) or through a specialised sports travel agent (major bucks - you're tied to them for flights and accommodation).

I was coming back from football training this evening when I checked my email on my phone and saw the message - had to re-read it a few times before it sank in. I was absolutely delighted, but soon the magnitude of the task also hit home - I knew how I felt recently after 11 miles in the Reading Half Marathon and how the thoughts of another half marathon seemed so incredibly difficult.

I've got the Wokingham half marathon this weekend - as one of the lads said, it's my first training session in preparation for the full marathon in November! I'm going to "retire" from football as well and just focus on this and Gael Force training over the summer!

Is this the source of motivation I've been lacking lately!