To be honest, running the Sydney Marathon has been my ritual for so many years. I've run the Sydney Marathon every single year since I started running, except for this year. I was very happy that it made it into the World Marathon Majors, and I did run it once because I had a legacy spot for it.
But this year, I couldn't get in, even though I've been running consecutively for so many years. It's the first time that I've broken my ritual. I'm flying to Berlin for the second time for the Berlin Marathon, but honestly, it still hurts my feelings that I couldn't get in.
I see that in the Berlin Marathon, they have spots reserved for local residents who have been running consecutively for many years. I think if you run consecutively for five years or something, then you get a guaranteed spot because it's a local event, to some extent. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course, but I just thought about it and it still hurts my feelings.