Friday, March 10, 2006

rejected and dejected

I got my registration check BACK from Grandma's 1/2 marathon today. I'm so bummed! I received a couple weeks ago and mailed it back the same day -- before the day's last pickup at the Post Office.

Grandma's 1/2 picks its 4,500 participants via lottery. They pick 1,000 two business days after the entries are mailed out; then 2,500 a few days later and the final 1,000 a few days after that. My entry had to have been in that bin the entire time and still -- no luck.

Everyone else that I know of made the cut. I'm very sad I won't be participating. Someone suggested that I contact some people to see if they have any numbers available (I work for a company that is a major sponsor of the event and, apparently, sponsors get some numbers to give out. I know someone that was a big-shot spokesperson for our company and the event, but we are not exactly on the greatest of terms. (I personally think he suffers from "little man syndrome". You know, the "stamp my feet, scream and shout, I know better than you" personality. I didn't take too kindly to his every (little man) requests (aka whines/demands)when we worked in the same area. Some how I think he won't be so willing to do me a big favor...)

I'm just going to have to give up the thought that I'll be running that event this year.

There are a couple other events that I'm going to do this spring/summer that require some thoughtful training: Wells Fargo 1/2 marathon in May and LifeTime Tri in July. So, maybe I should think of this as a blessing in disguise. There are only three weeks between Grandma's and the Tri, so my peak training weeks and tapers would be screwed up if I participated in both events. This way, I can concentrate on really having a great performance in the Tri.

I start some swimming lessons on Sunday. I'm working with a coach that uses the "Total Immersion" approach. I signed up for a package of six lessons. One of the things that he'll do is video tape my swimming. That should be absolutely horrifying.

My hope is that I'll pick up on some techniques that will help my swimming be more comfortable for longer stretches. The swim in the Tri is 0.9, which is a long way for me.

I also plan on actually buying a wetsuit and doing a lot more open water swims this year. Hard to imagine that, as I gaze out on the still-frozen lakes here in the heart of Minneapolis.

As for Grandma's, I'll still go up to Duluth for the day to cheer on my friends, cuz, you know -- that's what friends are for.

1 comment:

Dori said...

I'm sorry you didn't get in to the Half, but I'm glad you'll be there to cheer on your teammates (and hopefully former teammates.)

I'm sure you'll ROCK the LTF Tri. I can't even envision the swim portion, but I've been told that wetsuits help keep you buoyant. Good luck with your swimming lessons.

I'm looking forward to running Lake Mtka. See you there!