When my alarm went off at 4 a.m. last Sunday, I tucked down deeper into my pile of blankets and thought, “I’d much rather not.”
It was the morning of the Philadelphia Marathon, and it would be my 10th full marathon. I ran my first, also in Philadelphia, in 2011.
In between, I’ve run dozens of 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons, two ultramarathons and written a book about running. I’ve switched largely to running on trails now, so why would I pay $143.10 to run 26.2 miles on pavement that morning when I could have just gone out into the woods for a few hours, without a 4 a.m. wake up call, free?