2027- A year of Running Disappointment
2027 started off great but has proven to be full of disappointments.
October 2, 2026
We are ten months into the year and I can safely say, this year has been full of disappointments in my running adventure.
The two biggest ones were having a foot issues that started after the Paris Marathon, and was diagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis which lead to months and months of running upsets.
The second major disappointment was my DNF at the Berlin Marathon caused by the issues of my foot and dealing with Plantar Fasciitis.
But there is a growing list of other disappointments namely the Race Lottery Draws.
Almost all of the most desirable marathons have lottery entry. That is not the only way to get into a race, but it is the most straightforward and affordable.
All of the Abbot World Majors have Lottery Entry except Boston. But now many of the other popular marathons are becoming lottery entry including, starting next year, Paris. Every time I have been able to get into a major marathon like Chicago, it has been due to getting accepted in a lottery. The exceptions are New York, where I did my 9 qualifying runs with the New York Road Runners in a year which earned entry into the New York Marathon the following year. I did that several times. And recently my last two Berlin Marathons where I purchased a tour package that had hotel and guaranteed bib entry. These were costly but worth it.
In planning, one has to be thinking a year ahead in order to have marathons on the schedule. Especially big exciting Marathons. So for 2026 and 2027 here is a list of the Marathons I’ve tried to get into through lotteries and have failed:
Tokyo Marathon 2026 and 2027-normal lottery entry-Failed
Tokyo Marathon 2027-Special Abbot World Major Lottery-Failed
Boston Marathon-Special Abbot World Major Lottery-Failed
London Marathon 2026 and 2027-normal lottery entry-Failed
London Marathon 2027-Special Abbot World Major Lottery-Failed
New York Marathon 2026-normal lottery entry-Failed
Chicago Marathon 2026-Normal lottery entry-Failed
Berlin Marathon 2026-Normal lottery entry-Failed
Paris Marathon 2027-Inaugural lottery entry-first wave draw-Failed
Sydney Marathon 2027-normal lottery entry-Failed
Big Sur Marathon 2027-lottery entry-Failed
Essentially I have not made the lottery cut for a marathon going on two years now. In the past two years when Paris was not a lottery I was able to register and run, now that it’s a lottery, I just got my first rejection email yesterday.
Each time I receive a rejection email it is a disappointment. Even though, in the context of all of the things happening in the world, not getting into a marathon seems trivial. But it is still something that I hope for, and something that gives me inspiration, and each rejection does come at an emotional expense.
Prior to these past two years, I had been successful, I got into Chicago four times with the lottery. The first year Sydney was a world major I was accepted in a lottery, and my Berlin journey started with getting in through the lottery. So the ongoing disappointment is in contrast to previous years when I would occasionally get lucky. I still entered a few each year but I would at least get one. But now, it seems, my lottery luck has run out.
I am taking small but important steps to begin the other important way that race bibs are distributed and that is through raising money for charities.
But this post is about the disappointments for this year.
This year I entered and canceled three races due to my foot. When this first started my foot was so bad that even after running a 1 mile race in Santa Monica my foot was flaring and in pain on the drive home.
Long Beach- I changed my Long Beach Marathon to a Half Marathon. Long Beach Half Marathon is in a week (Oct 11) and I honestly have no doubts about my ability to run the half. It will be good to do the half to scout out the logistics because I may run the full Marathon next year since it is a full marathon I can easily register for. No lottery yet.
Looking to the future-
I just signed up for the lottery for Berlin in 2027. I am absolutely determined to be at the starting line in Berlin in 2027. Before the DNF my thoughts were that three is a nice number and the tour package is getting expensive, so I might not need to run Berlin again….now I am absolutely committed to being there next year. Of course I don’t have to be there, I could do another marathon someplace else and it’s still 26.2 miles. But Berlin has been tough. The first year I went I was struggling with the challenges of Jet lag for the first time doing an international marathon, but I finished with a poor time. Second year turned out to be a hot marathon with temperatures starting at 80 degrees and getting up to 85, but I managed to finish which I’m proud of, but still had a poor time. Now this year….even worse, struggling with Plantar Fasciitis, which prevented me from finishing. So even though I love the city of Berlin, and the experience, I have yet to perform to my own satisfaction at the marathon. That is why I want to go back. I want to prove to myself I can run Berlin, conquer the challenges and get a sub 5 hour marathon.
That was my goal for this year, be a faster and better runner. That goal was shattered when my foot got dinged. All my effort and focus has been to just recover and try and get back to running.
Thankfully, my foot is better. In fact as I write this it’s 4AM and I’m preparing to do 12 miles this morning in 80 degree heat. We will see how it goes.
Even with Plantar Fasciitis I’ve been maintaining the regular goal of running at least 50 miles each month. Last month I did over 100. And yet, I am still plagued by thoughts that I may be getting old and there is a limit to how long one can run. At some point each person will confront their age and realize they can no longer do the things they enjoyed in their prime. It’s hard not to start to have these worries, but also many people run well into their later years. I am probably nowhere near having to think about curtailing my running. In the past few years I’ve run multiple marathons in a single year, even this year with disappointment I have already run two marathons and hopefully before the year is out it will be three. That is still more that I ran when I was younger and much faster.
What is certain is that I’m dealing with a 55 year old body that will require more activities in order to continue to run safely. I will keep up my PT for my PF. I will have to take strength training more seriously, as well as cross-training activities such as hiking and biking. It can’t just be going out and doing the miles.
I have a straight forward and clear goal right now….get back to Berlin in late September 2027 and try and do a 4:45 (or better) marathon.