I've officially registered for a couple of my planned races, and wanted to tell you a little about the first one that I will run on the weekend of October 10-11, the Fourth Annual Phedippidations World-wide Half Marathon Challenge.
Okay, so it doesn't go by that name anymore, but here's the story. Back in 2006, I was finishing my intern year in Internal Medicine training in Charlottesville, VA at Mr. Jefferson's medical school, UVa. I had recently come across a podcast by a man named Steve who lives in Oxford, Mass and did a weekly show on all things running: training tips, famous runners past and present, random opinions, etc. He had already been producing shows for a few months by the time I discovered Phedippidations. As I listened to the newest episodes being produced, he talked about this idea, a Worldwide race, that everyone in the world could run, for free, and just make up the course wherever you happened to live.
I loved the idea. I had been listening to the show as part of training for the Richmond Marathon, which I successfully ran in the Fall of 2006 and since the First annual WWHMC fell during my training and made for a great weekend run. I ran that first race through the streets of Charlottesville, and did the same for the 2nd annual race on 2007. For 2008, I was now in Gainesville and I ran the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon, with good effect finishing in 1 hour 34 minutes.
So now its 2009, I'm training for another marathon and again the Worldwide Festival falls during my training. I'm signed up (#356) and ready to run. Haven't decided yet if I will just be doing a run through Gainesville or an organized race, but if you're free on the weekend of October 10 and 11 this year, come join us? 463 registrants thus far and plenty more sure to join in the coming months.
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