Now that I have a successful half marathon under my belt it’s time to start thinking about the next first marathon. The Chicago Marathon is to be held on October 22, 2006 and my current plan is to wake up early, run 26.2 miles, eat some terribly unhealthy food and proceed to pass out (due to exhaustion and a post-race beer) in my own bed in my own apartment.

This, of course, is 18 weeks and hundreds of training miles away. The Chicago Marathon is first-come-first-served with all 40,000 participant spots being filled in record time this year. The flat course (especially when compared to San Diego) starts and ends in Grant Park and winds through 15 different neighborhoods. Each year around 1.5 million spectators come out to watch the race which is largely due to the huge number of runners, a course that runs throughout the city, and easy access to public transportation to view the course.

I feel one of the best parts of Chicago versus San Diego is Chicago has the ability to have emails and text messages sent to friends and family reporting time and course position of their runners. It sill irks me that San Diego didn’t support this service but I’m never running San Diego again so who cares.

Back to training – I had a cross training day on Monday which involved lifting weights for the first time in a long time. Everything went well except for feeling ‘sore all over’ on Tuesday and today. Yesterday I ran 3 miles on a trail in Lincoln Park. The GPS kept good track and I finished in something like 26 minutes.

I’m running 3 miles tonight indoors (as it is HOT and HUMID right now) which I’m not really looking forward to due to the soreness. I’m going to try my best to run slow and stretch well afterward. 18 weeks may be a long time but by then there will have been 7 Notre Dame football games and (God willing) our boys will boast a 7-0 record.

The one other thing I discovered is Hal Higdon has a new Podcast with weekly training advice leading up to the race. **This just in** old dog taught new trick.