The Next Challenge: The NYC Marathon

About two months ago, on a whim, I decided to enter the NYC Marathon Lottery. Every runner I know seems to have this race on their bucket list and they all seemed to be entering. So I figured, why not. I’ve never run a marathon before, nor have I really had any desire to do so. Unless it was going to be a big one.

After paying the $11 fee, I put it behind me and didn’t think much about the race or the lottery. This was very different from how I felt about the NYC Half Marathon lottery. Which I wanted to get into so incredibly bad (which I did!) I secretly wanted to get in, but my hopes never got too high. This is one of the most difficult races to get into, especially via lottery. I think last year they only accepted about 18% of entrants in total. 18% are not good odds. 

And let’s be honest, the odds never seem to be in my favor.   

After mulling the idea of a marathon over, I got it in my head that even if I didn’t make it into the NYC race, I would try for another major race. I have Marine Corps and LA on my mind. 

However, March 8^th marked the official drawing and fairly early in the day, I received this message:

Holy. Cow. Turns out I wouldn’t need a backup race, because I had somehow beaten the odds and made it in on my first shot. 

I spent the rest of the day glancing at social media to see if anyone else I knew was in and also to watch all the excited posts on the NYRR and TCS facebook and twitter pages. There of course were a lot of unhappy runners, but for the most part, it was a celebration. NYRR released the stats for entries this year and this is how it broke down:

19,083 runners will be accepted into the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon through the race entry drawing process held today. The number of entries is an increase of 4,757 (33%) from 2015, and 9,913 (108%) over the past two years (2014 and 2015). 

 

For the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon, 23% of non-guaranteed applicants will receive entry through the drawing process. A total of 82,172 non-guaranteed entry drawing applications were processed. Of the 19,083 runners who will receive entry through the drawing process, an equal percentage will be drawn from local, national, and international application pools.

125,000 applications will make up this year’s combined field of guaranteed and non-guaranteed entries, featuring runners from over 125 countries around the world. About 50,000 runners are expected to finish the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon.

Even days later, this seems like a dream. An insane, crazy dream. I cannot believe that in less than 9 months, I’ll be pounding the streets of NYC with 50,000 other runners for 26.2 miles.

Thankfully, I’ll be in NYC for a preview next week as I take on Manhattan for the United Airlines NYC Half!