Tag Archives: Marine Corps Marathon

I need to make a decision.  Not one to rival Sophie’s choice, but a tough one nonetheless.  It all started when, to my utter shock and defying all odds, I won the lottery.  Not THAT lottery (why oh why didn’t I buy a ticket for THAT lottery?).  The New York City Marathon lottery for international runners.  The lottery no one ever seems to win, so that would-be runners are forced to pay a minimum of $2000 for three nights in half a room plus a coveted race entry (you read that right, half a room, so you need to find a roommate also willing spend $2000 – or $1200 without the race entry – to pay for the other half).  And yes, that is the cheapest package buy-in option.  How do you say scam?  Answer: NYCM international travel partner.  I attribute my win to recession economics – I suspect fewer people entered and my odds went up.  Although my inner conspiracy theoriest speculates that my public ranting about the NYCM lottery system somehow got me ‘randomly selected’ for the win; but given my semi-anonymity (my complete lack of influence aside, ha) that would take a devilish amount of work on the part of the NYC Road Runners.  Unless they happen to have a lot of time on their hands I suspect this notion is a bit (ok, a lot) far-fetched, although it does amuse me to imagine I wield such power in the international running community.   

Winning an entry to the New York City Marathon means I am now confirmed for THREE amazing races in a 15 day time period this autumn.  As one friend said, it is an embarrassment of riches.  Sadly, those riches aren’t monetary – if they were I may not have a dilemma at all.  But my pockets are shallow and my vacation days few, so I must decide which of my three marathons to bump to 2010.   I started creating pro/con lists in grade school as an easy (and entertaining) means of boyfriend selection and I continue that fine tradition now.

1.  The Nike Women’s Marathon in San Fransisco on October 18th.  Pros:  Of the three fine cities on my list SF is the only one to which I’ve never travelled (my entire experience of California is based on a single trip to LA; The Terminator with his come to Cali commercials would be disappointed).  The route is scenic, albeit hilly, and the weather is reliably moderate.  The extra touches that celebrate “running like a girl” sound rather cool.  I would be remiss to leave out the Tiffany & Co. necklace finisher’s medal.  If I’m honest, the city and the necklace are the two big incentives.  Okay, if I’m shamefully honest, the finisher’s necklace is the really big draw.  I’m like a crow, lured in by shiny trinkets.   Cons:  SF is an expensive cross continent flight and the hotel deals are few and far between.  The hilly nature of the course makes it an unlikely candidate for a PB.  The website is pull-out-my-hair slow because of all the flashy add-ons — about 50% of my attempts result in the desired page actually loading properly.  As an impatient internet junky, this is a real problem.  NWM seems like the kind of race to run with girlfriends, not as a solo excursion.  Perhaps most importantly, I haven’t technically registered yet (not to worry, I have entry through a non-lottery process) - so in theory this is the easiest race to postpone.

2.  The Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC on October 25th.  Pros:  More than twenty of my friends and Husband are all running MCM, so it will be all kinds of fun.  I love the city and it is my kind of course.  Assuming the weather is dandy, MCM is my best shot at a PB this fall.  We’re driving to D.C. and we got a great hotel deal, which will save us buckets of cash – of the three options, this is by far the most cost-effective.  Oh, and given that Husband is running we’re going regardless of whether I run.  And if we’re going, I might as well run.  Cons:  This is the middle race date, so running MCM means back-to-back Sunday marathons – allowing me only 6 days of rest instead of 13.  That said, I’m kind of keen on the back-to-back challenge.  I’d qualify to be a Marathon Maniac.  Of the three cities the weather in DC is the most variable and race day could be an unseasonable scorcher.  I falter in the heat.  And by heat I mean anything over 5C.

3. The New York City Marathon on November 1st.  Pros:  It’s the NYCM! The biggest marathon in the world AND the 40th running; a milestone year that might bring about something really special.  I don’t know what they might do for the ruby anniversary, but perhaps I should start lowering my high expectations now.  Crazy runners (namely, me)actually pay money just for the chance to run this famous race.  For once the streets are people-jammed, not traffic-jammed, with cheering fans and lined with entertainers – I loved that about Boston (well the fans, there wasn’t much in the way of entertainment) and it would be amazing to experience in another city.  I truly enjoy race expos and the NYCM expo is supposed to be one of the best.  I’ve only been to NYC once, actually just to Manhattan, and only for two days.  Four of the five boroughs are unknown to me, except for my Hollywood TV and films impressions.  I think NYC is a must-do marathon for the 42.2K tourist.   Cons:  The expense.  Given the proximity to my home turf, I should be able to find a reasonable flight; but the hotel bill may require a second job.  My overly anxious self is hesitant to run a race that involves spending hours on an island all alone in the midst of tens of thousands of runners waiting for the race to start.  I’m told people bring sleeping bags and tents to the waiting area.  A race that requires camping gear worries me.  Oh, and I’ve been told if I run on the lower bridge someone might pee on me.  That is definitely a con.

Left to my own devices I will flip-flop like a fish out of water until September.  If you had my running luck, which race would you defer to 2010?

Title Reference: Meatloaf – Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.  From the album Bat Out of Hell.  1977.

I am registered to run in one of the Top Ten Biggest Marathons in the World: the People’s Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon.  Today I learned (thank you wikipedia) that it is called the people’s marathon because the race organizers offer no prize money or appearance fees to lure in elite runners.  I also learned that Colonel Jim Fowler organized the first Marine Corps Marathon in 1976 to bring some positive attention to the military after the Vietnam War.  At that time distance running was garnering more widespread interest and it seemed appropriate to link the military with an arduous physical challenge.  In 1976, 1175 participants ran the inaugural race and four of the original runners, called ”groundpounders”, have participated in all 32 marathons.  I love this quote from one of the groundpounders about his first race: “I got a side stitch after five miles and it stayed with me the rest of the race.  I was young and I had heard that marathons hurt so I just stuck with it and kept running.”  As true today.
 
The Marine Corps Marathon shut down their entire website today, except for the registration page, because of the high volume of traffic.  They expect to sell out quickly.  This race is still 200 days away.  People ran races before this race just to get a guaranteed entry code.  People joined the army just to get a guaranteed spot.  Not really (well yes really to the former, but not really to the latter).  It’s a cycle of craziness – people worry about getting in so they rush to register, that rush to register causes the race to fill quickly, the quick sell-out causes people (especially those left behind) to register even more quickly the following year, and on it goes.  Demand always creates more demand.  How else can you explain the Cabbage Patch Kids craze?
 
It’s all rather exciting.  This kind of thing just does not happen in Canadian marathons.  People do not write down the date and time registration opens in their calendars (nor do they set little alarms to remind themselves to register – because some people, namely me, are easily distracted) so they don’t miss out.  Marathons in Canada do not typically sell out at all, never mind in a single day.  Websites do not crash because of the influx of wanna-be runners.  People would not spend money on Big Canadian Marathon lottery tickets hoping their name will be drawn months later.  Certainly there are highly coveted races (of other distances) that sell out in lightening fast time, but marathon mania has not taken hold north of the border.  Of course, we’re all too eager to go international for some of that marathon madness.
 
Two of the largest marathons in Canada are the Vancouver Marathon and Ottawa Marathon (around 3,000 and 3300 marathoners in 2008 respectively).  Neither of these events sold out last year (I want to say have sold out ever, but that would be a bold statement given that I’m too lazy to check to see if it would, in fact, be a true statement).  If you wait too long to register you pay a penalty in the form of a higher registration fee, but that’s about it. 

Certainly our race sizes are in scale to our relatively small population – only a small percentage of people run and only a small percentage of those people run marathons.  US estimates place the annual marathon participation rate at around 0.1% of the population.  In Canada 0.1% of the population is about 33,000 people – roughly the field size for the New York, London, Berlin, or Chicago (the four biggest) marathons.  To have a race that size in Canada every marathoner in the country would need to run that race (assuming no international entries).  To understate dramatically, that seems unlikely.

I suspect another reason for the smaller race sizes is that there are lots, and I means lots, of small and mid-sized marathons in Canada.  Most have a field size equal to or less than that of the first Marine Corps Marathon.  Perhaps Canadians simply prefer a quieter long and winding road.  They don’t want the inconveniences associated with these mega-marathon events.  With no demand there is no craze.  But it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy – with so many options no single marathon generates as much interest and hype as The Top Ten.  The marathons compete with each other for runners.  Each spring I can choose from about 5 certified marathons within a quick 90-minute drive from my home and the fall brings me even more options.  If I was willing to involve a hotel room and an overnight stay my options would triple.  Even if my city held one big marathoning event, subsuming all those little local races, the size still would not rival the biggest in the world.  Still I propose that once, just once, all those wee marathons combine into one super-marathon event.  I estimate about 10,000 marathoners would participate in my mythical One Big Race.  I’d buy a lottery ticket to get into that one.

Title Reference: Private Willie Duckworth – Sound Off (The Duckworth Chant). From a long tedious march through a swamp. 1944.