Sunday, February 13, 2011

Sold out events.

Earlier in the week I realized that I didn't have an official "event" for this weekend that would force me out of my comfort zone to brave the elements for some sort of training. This is an odd feeling as the last 5 Sundays I've raced to varying degrees. I say various degrees meaning effectiveness, not temperature as there was only one temperature recently: cold.

Another thing I realized is that I have some real "events" on the horizon that I needed to start focusing on. I have St. Anthony's triathlon May 1st (12 weeks or so away) and I think my training is in good shape for that race. Even though I haven't signed up yet, I've been talking about Rev3 Quassy 70.3 the first weekend in June. I felt I needed to start stretching out the distances I've been training a little to be in the right place especially for the HIM.

I was about to have a conversation with my coach on this topic when I found out the NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon on 5/21 opened for registration. I've never done this race before but rumor was that it would sell out quickly. I was also thinking about doing the Bloomin' Metric 100k bike ride on 5/22 and thought if I could do those events back to back it would show I was in good shape for Rev3. I was a bit concerned regarding the taper (one of my strengths) but when we emailed back and forth later that day, Mike strongly endorsed this race since it would set up perfectly for the beginning of the Rev3 70.3 taper.

As I was signing up for the Half, I noticed another race I was thinking of signing up for was on the NYRR website: the NYRR Colon Cancer Challenge scheduled for 3/27. My brain started thinking if I can do that race well at 15k, I would be in good shape for the half Mary seven weeks later. I registered for both the Colon Cancer 15k and the Brooklyn half. No need to sign up now for the Bloomin' as I don't think it will sell out.

The next day I found that both running races sold out. I made it just under the wire. It was good that I registered in time but it is bad that these races sold out so fast. This got me concerned so I pulled the trigger and registered for Rev3 HalfRev Quassy too.

Why do these races sell out so fast? Obviously supply and demand are out of whack. Then I started thinking that if I do these NYRR races I'll only need 6 in 2011 more to guarantee entry into the 2012 NYC 26.2. As many know the NYC Marathon would sell out so quickly that they sell lottery chances to gain entry but if you do 9 NYRR races and volunteer at one, you are in (after you pay the freight). I'll pick up a few more NYRR races in the fall that will act as supported long runs for my IMFL training and there is one down the street from my office that I'll do too.

Full disclosure, IMFL will be my first marathon. You think thinking of another already is dangerous?

5 comments:

Jon said...

Cya @ the 15k!

Unknown said...

I'm really lucky that the events out here don't sell out so fast, but that also means we don't have the big events with great support like you do. Guess there are pros and cons of each

Best wishes with the events that you signed up for!

Unknown said...

good call on pulling the trigger on Rev3 Quassey ... I've heard it is filling up quick.

Aside from the Houston marathon we can usually sign up for our races when we are ready. Probably because of the climate we have so many races to choose from through out the year.

IMTX will be my first marathon too!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

It seems this year everything is filling extra quick, I am not sure why this is.

What did your daughter say about her award

Michael said...

Wow, I'm just impressed with the number of races you are doing. It should definitely set you up well for your 70.3 I just recently signed up for a Triathlon here in Missouri, each year it has sold out quicker, this year it sold out in a week. It kind of stinks in some way that you have to pull the trigger sometimes before you might be ready, but it's also kind of cool that these events are selling out - it just means more people are out there doing great things!