Have you heard about the changes in registering for this year's Chicago Marathon?
Read an article here.
This year they are adding a lottery system, rather than the typical first-come-first-serve system they've used for years. They are now changing it to NYC style. I read the article and felt a bit upset. Then I felt happy that I've had the opportunity to run it a few times.
If you want to give it a shot, the lottery begins March 5 and closes April 7. Good luck to you.
And now here are some of my feelings:
I don't qualify for any of the spot guarantees, although I am close to a couple:
Running at least 5 Chicago marathons in the past 10 years. (I've run 3.)
Running a previous marathon at 3:45 or faster.
The one guarantee everyone seems to be talking about is the charity one. If you run with a charity, you're in. This of course involves raising hundreds of dollars to do so. I think this will be great for charities & I'm very happy about that. I just pause... where does that leave the regular runner who doesn't want to raise hundreds of dollars every year in order to continue running the marathon? If you do the charity route every year, you won't have many friends left by the end...asking for donations every year...
The Chicago marathon is an amazing experience and I love it dearly, but considering the entry fee increased (again) and lotteries, I think it's time to run elsewhere.
Then...one of my Facebook friends put it on Facebook and someone commented. "I hope it's not as hard as the CPS lottery!" Boom. Reality check. Running a marathon is a big deal and exciting, but it doesn't really rank up there with education.
And hey, maybe this is all the typical big analysis to change and everything will work out to be just fine. I had a talk with my kindergartner at Read-with-Me last week while we read a Martin Luther King, Jr. book about how people are sometimes scared of change. I guess right now, you can put me into that category. So...maybe everything will turn out lovely.
Read an article here.
This year they are adding a lottery system, rather than the typical first-come-first-serve system they've used for years. They are now changing it to NYC style. I read the article and felt a bit upset. Then I felt happy that I've had the opportunity to run it a few times.
If you want to give it a shot, the lottery begins March 5 and closes April 7. Good luck to you.
And now here are some of my feelings:
I don't qualify for any of the spot guarantees, although I am close to a couple:
Running at least 5 Chicago marathons in the past 10 years. (I've run 3.)
Running a previous marathon at 3:45 or faster.
The one guarantee everyone seems to be talking about is the charity one. If you run with a charity, you're in. This of course involves raising hundreds of dollars to do so. I think this will be great for charities & I'm very happy about that. I just pause... where does that leave the regular runner who doesn't want to raise hundreds of dollars every year in order to continue running the marathon? If you do the charity route every year, you won't have many friends left by the end...asking for donations every year...
The Chicago marathon is an amazing experience and I love it dearly, but considering the entry fee increased (again) and lotteries, I think it's time to run elsewhere.
Then...one of my Facebook friends put it on Facebook and someone commented. "I hope it's not as hard as the CPS lottery!" Boom. Reality check. Running a marathon is a big deal and exciting, but it doesn't really rank up there with education.
And hey, maybe this is all the typical big analysis to change and everything will work out to be just fine. I had a talk with my kindergartner at Read-with-Me last week while we read a Martin Luther King, Jr. book about how people are sometimes scared of change. I guess right now, you can put me into that category. So...maybe everything will turn out lovely.
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