This year is the first time the Chicago Marathon 45,000 spots are being decided by lottery. A chunk of them went to multiple finishers, fast finishers, and charity participants. The Other 25,000 spots are being decided by lottery. Which means unless I run a marathon faster than 3:20, I've probably run my last Chicago Marathon. My home race.
Of course, there are other marathons with the lottery system: NYC, Marine Corps, Houston and of course Boston, to name a few. This year, the NYC Marathon had 77,000 Lottery entrants, only 9,170 of them got picked to run the race. That's about 11%.
It's not the question of the race or it's quality, but of the effort and stress required to get in, in order to participate. Just to get to the start line. As if life wasn't hard enough. As if training wan't hard enough. I thought running was to be fun, and a way to be get rid of stress, not create more of it. There is now a dividing line here and that's not running to me. Those who get in. And those who don't.
Running is supposed to be an inclusive sport of all people, types and shapes. Everybody has a story. And that story is not only propels us to run, but defines our lives. There should be a freedom here of what we choose to run, and what we don't. Not the other way around. This all seems rather exclusive. That's not running to me. At all. And it certainly takes the happiness out of it. It has all the fun of waiting to hear back if you got a job.
I know there is an attraction to these races, history and bit of romance, but these races are like a really good restaurant. It's occasionally nice to have and wait for, but really I hate to wait for food. To eat. No matter how good it is. And no matter how good the food is. I'm hungry, and I want to eat.
I don't know what the answer is, so I'm going to do to other races instead. Races I can sign up for now, train and prepare for, with a piece of mind, that I don't have to worry if i'm in it or not. There are so many wonderful alternatives to Chicago, so I'm going to explore them. Fox Valley Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, to name a few. According to the Marathonguide.com website, there are 32 marathons around the United States and Canada on the same weekend as the Chicago Marathon. And 31 are taking registrations.
The other alternative, is to simply run fast enough, so I won't have to worry about lotteries.
I'm working on that, too.
Happy Running!!!
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