I’ll be the first to admit that I’m pretty darn stubborn. I love overcoming challenges just for the personal thrill and satisfaction so when I had to miss three big races I had planned due to injury, I was determined to make up for it. So, I did what I said I was not doing this year – I signed up for the Chicago Marathon.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a fantastic experience running my first marathon in October. It was more than I expected; an overwhelming combination of accomplishment, gratitude and just pure satisfaction. It was that big crazy goal I had set for myself and the thrill of running 26.2 miles was worth every hour spent training. But it was also incredibly time consuming. When I signed up for my first marathon I was solely focused on the physical aspect – could I run that far? Sure. I largely underestimated how much time I would spend preparing for the race; how many weekends would be consumed by long runs and recovery time (I watched every season of Gossip Girl in the process).

And that time factor is what made me initially decide to pass on running another marathon this year. It was to be the year of the half marathon – a more manageable training schedule and a big personal record I was working toward. But with that suddenly taken away from me, I needed a new goal – something to work toward and prove to myself as a comeback.

I’ll be running the Chicago Marathon as part of the American Cancer Society’s DetermiNation team in honor of my two grandmothers who I both lost to cancer. Last year I raised over $1,800 thanks to the generosity of my family and friends and felt so incredibly lucky for each of the 26.2 miles thinking of all the support I had both near and far. 

So here we go again. Another marathon, more fundraising and another training cycle ahead of me (this time with some help from Nike Training Club on their official Chicago Marathon training team).

Let’s do this.