When I met my buddy Bart Yasso at the Runner’s World Half, he signed his book “never limit where running can take you.”

Running has given so much to my life.

It’s given me the confidence to believe in my dreams. I never thought I’d be able to run a marathon, much less four, taking off more than an hour off my time from the first to the fourth.

It’s given me some pretty incredible opportunities, from a race and trip to the Bahamas to hanging out with the Runner’s World staff and was even being included in their top fave Twitter people.

It’s given me some free therapy and massive endorphin rushes.

But most importantly, it’s given me friendship. Ashley and I became so close because we logged a million hours running together as we trained for our first marathons. It’s given me a new outlet to connect with my coworkers. It’s brought countless people into my life that I would not have met were it not for running.

So I am REALLY excited to announce that I’ll be running the Chicago Marathon as part of the 26 Strong program with Saucony and the Competitor Group. The program pairs experienced marathoners with first-timers to coach them through the experience.

I remember reading along last year as Michele trained with her sister, and getting the warm-fuzzies as they shared the experience of training for Honolulu.

I’m really excited to be training with my good friend Heather. We only met this time last year (in fact, yesterday was our friend-a-versary), but she quickly became one of my closest and most supportive friends. Our friendship has given me so much, and I can’t wait to pay that back by supporting her through training for her first marathon.

A note on choosing to work with Saucony: those of you who have read this blog for a long time know that I have been brand-loyal to New Balance for the past few years since they were my client at my last job. But I actually ran in Sauconys for years before working with New Balance and ran my first two marathons in Sauconys. I didn’t take this decision-making lightly because I know how it looks when I’ve written about one brand for years and am all of a sudden taking an opportunity with another brand just because it’s an awesome opportunity. I’ve turned down paid campaigns for other shoe brands because of my loyalty, but I ultimately decided that I felt comfortable working with Saucony since I ran in their shoes for so long before making the switch to NB.

So, two marathons this year — ah! I cannot wait, though. This is going to be a truly memorable experience, and I can’t wait to share it all with you.