Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Playing the lottery


I'll know tomorrow whether I'll be at this precise location on November 7th of this year. In a moment of weakness, or possibly insanity, my sister and I decided to enter the lottery for the New York City Marathon. For $11 you can enter the random drawing to run in the largest marathon in America. Our chances are slim, according to some it is easier to get into Harvard than to run the NYC marathon as a lottery winner. There are other ways to get in: 1) By running a qualifying time which are more stringent than Boston 2) Be a charity runner. However, it is lottery or bust for us and neither of us are hinging any training or hopes on this entry. You can watch the drawing live from your computer and I'm sure thousands of people will take advantage of this opportunity. I'm not sure if I'll watch or not, in fact I haven't decided yet whether I'll be praying for a bib number or thankful that I got passed up.

This would be an amazing race for a marathon comeback after the disaster of 07', but if I don't get in I've got back-up plans that may or may not include a replacement marathon. My DNF still haunts me and I know the only way to kick it in the butt is to toe the line for another 26.2 miles. Unfortunately, tackling that distance would take something I'm not sure I have in me: COMPROMISE. And by that I mean training carefully, very carefully, and listening to my body. To accomplish what I am doing now involves precisely timed medications, overlooking pain and fatigue, and making sure I have my RoadID strapped around my wrist. Non-runners might just think I need a bit a therapy and someone to toss my running into the garbage! I'm not certifiable, yet, and tomorrow I'll know if I will be facing that demon this fall.

1 comment:

abby said...

Fingers crossed for you!