Tis the season to be busy…fa la la la la la la la la.
I have been trying to squeeze in time to blog on here about a few things that have come up since my last race…and it life just hasn’t slowed down very much. In fact, I figured I’d have a bit more time these days without the grind of marathon training. But the fact of the matter is…now I’m getting caught up on everything that had to wait until I wasn’t marathon training. Work has been insane. And pile the holidays on right after and it’s a recipe for chaos and stress.
BUT…some pretty exciting stuff has happened since my last race update…and I have a few goals that are non-running related that I want to keep up with this year on THIS blog even. Because I started this blog to not just cover my running (training & races), but also my life as I navigate a gluten-free life in a gluten-filled world, my passion for baking and cooking, and everything in between.
That being said…this post is definitely running related…but also travel related…because…
I GOT INTO THE BERLIN MARATHON!!
That’s right. This girl is heading to Germany this coming September. Not long after my 40th birthday. So, honestly, I can’t think of any better race to use to ring in 40th year on Earth. The last time I went to Germany was 2003…so its been awhile. And I have never been to Berlin or a few other places that I’ve looked at visiting while there (hello Munich in October…because Octoberfest!). So, do expect a lot more of that as far as planning, travel, and all that goes on in Germany to be documented here.
It’s awhile off, but this is my first overseas race of the Abbott World Marathon Majors (I have done Chicago (x2 – 2013; 2018); NYC (2014), and Boston 2015) already. Hopefully I can get into the remaining two in the near future as well.
I found out about this on the day before Thanksgiving. I was just clearing out my e-mails that morning, and thought it was spam, but opened it anyway (I live dangerously, I guess?) and gasped, went “OH MY GOD!” and threw my phone. It freaked out my roommate. Especially when I started going, “HOLY SHIT BALLS!” She kept going, “WHAT?! WHAT?!” And, honestly while crying I said, “I GOT INTO BERLIN!” (I am using Caps Lock here because it was all the screams). Her response was classic: “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.” HAHA!
Honestly, we already have places where we are staying. Our hotel in Berlin is 5 star hotel (because…PRINCESS) and have started to lay out a general schedule (because we needed places to stay in the other cities we wanted to travel to as well). And, of course, since we’re there, we will probably hop over to Austria for an afternoon.
The best part of this, though, was talking with my Grandpa about it. He has run the Berlin Marathon twice (he lived in Germany for 3 years back in the 80s) and he went over race strategies with me and told me about his experiences. Of course, the big difference is that when he ran the race, Berlin was still divided by a wall. Seriously, I couldn’t stop smiling as we chatted on the phone.
So, there is my first round of exciting news. Stay tuned for more in the next couple of days (I promise…I’ll post it before I head home for the holidays).
Anyone else heading to Berlin in September?
The Celiathlete 