Today's TOR isn't about the marathon training but rather about getting into the marathon. 100,000 people apply through a lottery system for roughly 20,000 spots. The other 10,000 spots are filled in three ways: invited runners, ones running for a charity and . people who qualify by running 9 races and volunteering at a 10th race in the previous season.
A 4 hour marathoner doesn't get invited so I'm outa luck with that so my options are dumb-luck in the lottery but my luck isn't that good.
run for a charity which involves raising a couple thousand bucks or pre-qualifying by running 9 races throughout the year (at $20 a pop) and volunteering for 1 more.
I have gotten into the marathon through all three options but the funny thing is the last one involves this 'volunteer' business which is such a scam name for it.
Nobody standing here with me this morning is volunteering out of the goodness of their heart, everyone of the 200+ people is here to fill the requirement for the marathon. Calling it volunteering is a disservice to people who work in soup kitchens or the like. This is the dirty game which is marathon qualification and everybody knows the drill: stand around for 4 hours and make sure they sign you out. It's not about helping people or communities, it's selfish in every respect.
Years ago it took only 6 races to qualify, now the pumped it up to 9 plus the volunteer day, with the popularity of the sport rising and people using the system to get themselves in, I wouldn't be surprised if they increased the qualification to 12 and 2.next year.
If Mary Wittenberg CEO of the New York Road Runners really wanted to have her NYRR members make a difference she should require that each marathoner spend one Saturday working in a soup-kitchen or community center in order to qualify to run 26.2.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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