Hello Atlantic City Marathon

“A marathon is hundreds of miles.  The finish is the last 26.2”.

(Unknown)

My Walk into the Future continues to move forward and provides me with opportunities to challenge myself.  I applied to the 2024 Chicago Marathon and got accepted via the lottery process.  I believe I got in because of my affiliation with the Orlando Track Shack organization.  I’ve run with Track Shack since 2010, and they hosted the 2024 Olympic Marathon trials in downtown Orlando.  This additional publicity may have factored in getting accepted into the Chicago Marathon since Track Shack was in the news for months. 

I applied to the Chicago Marathon with a hope of getting in last year and I did.  The excitement of just getting in brought me joy and fear at the same time.  This was the largest running event for me so far and I enjoyed every minute of my time in Chicago.  I thought getting accepted once would help me get in again this year, but they didn’t select me.  I was bummed for a couple of days but then decided to find another marathon for this year. 

Hello Atlantic City Marathon!

I searched for a full marathon in the northern part of the country in October with a flat course.  The Atlantic City Marathon is not as large as the Chicago Marathon, but it has been around since 1958 and had almost 1,000 marathoners in 2024.  That’s a lot less than the 52,150 runners that completed the Chicago Marathon.  Oh well, 26.2 miles is the same distance regardless of how many folks run the race.

I ran the 2022 Atlantic City Rock N Roll Half marathon so I’m familiar with the area.  The Atlantic City Boardwalk is world famous but does not match the atmosphere in downtown Chicago.  I will get a chance to see my friend Lauren Apgar since she signed up to run this race as well.  It’s almost a home race since she will be coming over from Philly.  😊

I have the 2025 Nashville Rock N Roll half marathon coming up in April.  This is my favorite event in one of my favorite cities—I love NashVegas!  I added the 2025 Fargo Half marathon to my race calendar to maintain my running tourist spirit.  I’ve never been to the Dakotas, so I plan to run in Fargo, North Dakota and then drive down to South Dakota for a look.  This will allow me to cross off two additional states on my visit list. 

My marathon training program is scheduled to start again on 6/15/2025.  I will leverage my 18-week training program that allowed me to take 25 minutes off my marathon personal record (PR).  I have a better understanding of marathon training, nutrition, rest and recovery now and should be able to take more time off my PR this year.  I’m excited about the new challenge and want to see how much I can push myself this year.  I was recently prescribed full length orthotics to help eliminate pain from my flat feet.  They started bothering me during the 2024 Rhode Island half marathon and never got better.  Decided to go see a Podiatrist and get my feet checked out.  He gave me orthotics for my running shoes, and they feel great.  I have been running faster training runs since mid-February so I’m excited to see how this translates to race day. 

Atlantic City is a new adventure, and I plan to Walk into the Future on my way there!

Irie!

Calvin Williams

“Always concentrate on how far you’ve come, rather than how far you have left to go”.

(Unknown)