Travel more tiring than a double?

Quite possibly. As you know by now, the Boston Marathon will be held the day after the Chicago Marathon. The logistics of getting to the expo and picking up the bib for Boston on Sunday are ridiculously unwieldy and risky. 

We may find out in the coming weeks that BAA makes some arrangement for people doing the double. But I'm not counting on that. So, the only reasonable way to go about doing this is to fly into Boston early on Friday and immediately go to the expo with my bags to pick up my bib and packet. Upon doing so, and maybe buying the Boston Marathon cap that is my traditional in-person merchandise purchase, immediately return to the airport to catch a flight to Chicago. Even if I can't get to Chicago's expo on Friday, I have plenty of time on Saturday to do so.

Then, immediately after finishing Chicago (hopefully in 3:15 or less), get back to the hotel to shower/change and rush off to the airport. I have always made it a policy to wait until at least the following day to fly out after a marathon, but that is impossible to do in order to run the Boston Marathon on Monday. Hopefully there will be sufficient time available to get to the hotel and drop my bags off, go to the Marathon dinner at city hall (assuming they're going to be holding that, still), and then crash early enough to rest up for the early wake-up to get to the buses and head out for my fourth in-person Boston.

The only differences I would suggest in this plan would be either arriving in Boston earlier or staying overnight Friday (if you want to do more of the expo). However, by staying overnight on Friday, you still risk problems in your travel to Chicago to arrive in time for their expo.

No matter how you slice it, the travel (and stress of it) just may be more tiring than doing this first-ever World Marathon Majors back-to-back double. Good luck!

Lots of fall races. Lots of COVID testing.

Yesterday, the BAA finally announced the date they are shooting for to hold the next in-person Boston Marathon: October 11. This came as a pleasant and unpleasant surprise to those running the Marathon Majors, as it is the day after the Chicago Marathon. Assuming that the New York City Marathon takes place on their traditional first Sunday of November (they haven't formally announced just yet), that would make for a hugely packed fall schedule:

Sept. 26: Berlin Marathon

Oct. 3: London Marathon

Oct. 10: Chicago Marathon

Oct. 11: Boston Marathon

Oct. 17: Tokyo Marathon

Oct. 31: Marine Corps Marathon (true, not a World Marathon Major, but still highly popular race)

Nov. 7: New York City Marathon

Like last year, there's still plenty that is in flux and the above schedule is far from certain to go off without a hitch. In addition to all your usual registration and travel arrangements to hit any/all of the above races, as of now you will also need to be mindful of the travel restrictions in place. As of Jan. 26, US citizens returning from overseas must have negative COVID test.

Germany: https://de.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ (in short, US citizens not currently allowed to enter)

UK: https://uk.usembassy.gov/covid-19-coronavirus-information/ (while negative COVID test is required, quarantine may still be required)

Chicago: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/emergency-travel-order.html (negative COVID test or 10-day quarantine required)

Boston: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order (fill out travel form and either negative COVID test or 10-day quarantine required)

Japan: https://jp.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ (Travel for tourism and most other short-term purposes is still not permitted. Visa-free travel is suspended)

Arlington, VA: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus/travel-to-areas-with-widespread-ongoing-community-spread/ (no testing or quarantine requirements)

    NOTE: If you plan on visiting DC for more than the relatively brief time it takes to run the portion of the MCM course, be mindful of DC's requirements: https://coronavirus.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/coronavirus/page_content/attachments/COVID-19_DC_Health_Guidance_for_Travel_2020.11.07_FINAL.pdf

New York: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory (fill out travel form, negative COVID test before arrival, quarantine for 3 days, AND negative COVID test administered on Day 4 in state)

More regular posts? We'll see.

Hmmm... maybe. It's been tough to post regularly because of all of the COVID-related cancellations. There's only so many times I can post about my training runs -- I doubt that's of much interest to anyone. Here's what I had as my goals for this blog when I first posted on March 8, 2020 -- less than two weeks before EVERYTHING changed:

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1. Training runs -- especially particularly difficult or disappointing ones, and how I got through them
2. The many races I'll be running this year (I've got 8 more on my calendar as of today for a total of 9), from traveling to them, to the expos, to the crowd support and race logistics, to the bling, and to the recovery
3. Destination races (both domestic and overseas)
4. My big three goals for the year:

• Break a second Guinness World Record (yes, I've already broken one -- we'll get to that)
• Finally break through the 3-hour barrier
• Run my 50th marathon at the 50th New York City Marathon

     5.  Factors beyond our control:

• Particularly bad running weather
• Cancellations due to COVID-19 and other natural (or manmade) disasters

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I didn't have all of those races, but I did wind up running a total of 4 during the year. I'll try to be better about post-race posts this year. I'm currently set to run one in Feb, April, possibly May, October, and November if everything continues apace -- we'll see.

It's unlikely that I'll even have another GWR attempt, as I don't expect to be running in London, Sydney, Berlin, or Toronto -- the locations where I don't need to do any paperwork after the application is accepted, merely need to run the race.

I didn't manage to break 3-hours yet, either, despite having trained for it and run a proper race on a mostly flat course with that as the goal.

It's still a possibility to run my 50th marathon at the 50th running of the NYC Marathon. Fingers crossed that that works out.

My biggest concern at the moment is my right Achilles tendon. Earlier tonight, it decided to scream at me. Ice, compression, elevation -- so far it seems to have helped. And with tomorrow being a rest day from running (since today was a (tapering) long run), that should also help. Wish me luck with keeping healthy for my upcoming race.