The Lottery

I put my name in for the Nike "Run Like A Girl" Half Marathon in San Francisco this year (it's in October).

Their blog said that they received over 30,000 entries, and that they were going to draw 20,000.

I was not one of the 20,000.

I'm not exactly sure what I should have expected. I only half-heartedly wanted to sign up for it because there was great loot to be had (Nike performance t-shirt, custom Tiffany necklace) and that I've never been to San Francisco (as an adult, I think my parents and I drove through San Francisco on a road trip once). Also it would have been a good test/milestone for the marathon I want to do next Fall. I'm still intimidated by the 5K; running a half marathon or a marathon mentally feels out of my reach.

I guess Nike also decided on a compromise: they're running a concurrent Nike+ half marathon/marathon the same day, with registration starting in May. Basically, you get a Nike+ system for your iPod Nano (it tracks basic statistics of your runs for you) and log 13.1 miles the day of the event. They then send you your finisher's t-shirt and a Tiffany keychain (not as cool as the necklace, but since I don't have anything from Tiffany's I can live with a keychain).

I suppose doing it that way I can run on more forgiving ground than I would have faced in San Francisco, but I still feel empty in a way. I had a better than 50/50 chance of my name getting drawn and I lost.

Maybe next year.