This idea has been floating around in my head this year. I don't know if it's because I'm rapidly approaching the last year of my 30's, but there have been a couple of things I've just kind of grabbed on to and said "ok, just do it." This is how I decided to try running a month-long streak in January (a streak being the number of days in a row you run without taking a day off). I had never tried one, but sometimes you do things. So I did, and then I ran the first two days of February too before I took a rest day. Because sometimes you do things. Last week, I flew back to Michigan for two days for the funeral for a dear family friend, not because anyone expected me to go, but sometimes friends are family, and you do things for family. About a month ago, I decided on a whim to enter the lottery for the New York City Marathon. The chances of getting in are incredibly slim- most runners try for years and years and never get a lottery slot. Your only guaranteed way of getting in is raising something like a million dollars for a charity of the race's choosing. But I entered, because sometimes you just do things. And I had a good feeling about it, which is ridiculous because the odds are so small and I am not a lucky person (could it be I'll never be satisfied), but let's just embrace the doing things thing, right?
So this week, the talk with my buddies in the office has been consumed with, of all things, Hamilton. A couple of us have tickets to the hottest thing to come through Denver possibly ever. A couple of us do not. We are all on the Hamilton smart phone app to get in the lottery for tickets, because sometimes you have to do things. One of our little band of would-be theatre goers found a pair of tickets for sale on Craigslist. We all perused the photo of the tickets and decided that they looked pretty-much legit, so she texted. The owners texted back stating, of all wierdness, that they were most comfortable with potential buyers telling them how much they wanted to offer for the tickets, and they would decide on who they were most comfortable with, so "it didn't hurt to tell us about yourself."
So, being the Gen-Xers we are, we were highly skeptical, then sarcastic, and then Katy landed on brilliance: she would reply in Hamilton lyrics to make her case. The rest of us tossed around some ideas, but she crafted what was both the perfect description of her life AND possibly the longest text I have ever seen. You'll have to ask her for the details, but we were rolling.
Unfortunately, the mystery sellers were CLEARLY not Hamilton fans, and MOST ASSUREDLY in it for the Hamiltons... err... Benjamins (and maybe a kite and a key), and didn't even counter offer, just said the bid was too low without sharing what would have been acceptable (even when they were asked). Maybe they were descendants of Aaron Burr, sir? So, it's back to the lottery for Katy, with the rest of us entering as well.
All this talk of lottery reminded me - oh yea, I entered that marathon lottery. When were they drawing for it again?
Oh.
Today. Could be that in New York I could be a new (wo)man?
On the TCS NYC Marathon's Facebook page, they noted that you would learn if you had made the lottery if your credit card was charged, you got an acceptance email by the end of the day and your status in your New York Road Runner profile changed to "accepted." So, being on Mountain Time and a couple of hours behind a quiet uptown, I checked my email periodically until end-of-business in New York, but nothing. Well, if you don't do things, you'll never know, right?
And then Eric texted me.
"New York Road Runners charge on the credit card. Ring a bell?"
I didn't say no to this. I called him immediately.
"New York Road Runners?"
"Yea. It's pending, so it might go away."
"No!"
"Huh?"
"It's pending, what does that mean? Do we need to call them and confirm the charge?"
"Everything pends for the first 24 hours. What IS this?"
"It's a lottery slot in the New York City Marathon!"
"Great. I'm going to buy a television." (Ok, truth. I told Eric I had entered the lottery but didn't tell him how much the entry fee was. It's new-television expensive).
Holy cow, you guys.
Wait for it.
I'M RUNNING THE NEW YORK CITY MARATHON!
I'm so crazy excited. Not like when I first entered the Pike's Peak Marathon and was excited but wanted to puke from the thought of running my first marathon up and down a mountain. Nope, just excited. I have loved every minute of being in New York the couple times I was there, and just enjoyed the heck out of running in that city. I've been thinking about the NYC marathon since the first time I stepped a foot in Manhattan.
This kind of thing just doesn't happen to me. I am literally the last person that posted on the NYC Marathon page on Facebook that my card was charged before the marathon posted "The drawing is now complete." I got randomly picked, and possibly last.
Because sometimes, you just have to DO THINGS!
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| Running the Brooklyn Bridge in Fall, 2017 I'll be back, and you'll see! You'll remember you belong to me... |
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