Registration opens on February 1st for the annual Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I’m so excited!!! Chicago is my hometown and there is no place I’d rather be on 10/10/2010 than at the start line in Grant Park with 45,000 fellow runners. This well respected marathon that sells out every year. I’m determined to not miss out this year. I’ve already booked my hotel room just 0.4 miles from the start line.

You can visit the official Chicago Marathon website for all the details. Make sure to check out the Inspiration section of the site, for personal Runner Diaries and Featured Runner Essays.

Please feel free to comment if you’ve participated in this event. I’d love to hear from you.

Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga overcame the disappointment of his Olympic fade to win the Boston Marathon on Monday, and Kenya’s Salina Kosgei won the closest women’s race in the history of the event. Americans took third in both races for the best U.S. finish since 1985.

Merga, who was passed in the last quarter-mile and finished fourth in Beijing, pulled away before Heartbreak Hill and won in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 42 seconds — almost a full minute ahead of Kenya’s Daniel Rono and American Ryan Hall.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Hall, who took the early lead and was shoulder-to-shoulder with the leaders until they passed from Wellesley into Newton, with about 10 miles to go. “And I’ve been in the Rose Parade, so that’s a pretty big deal.”

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