A Close Call

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll remember that I have some commitment issues. It's a problem and I'm working on it, but I generally wait until the absolute last minute to sign up for a race. In the past, the only thing that this has meant is that I've ended up paying a little more than usual for a lot of races, because I waited till the week of.

I've made some major breakthroughs with this issue of late... I've signed up for the last 3 marathons I've ran WELL in the future, I had to sign up for the Monkey early cause it sells out the day registration opens up and I also signed up for Huntsville early, because it was only $50. Yes, that's right... a marathon registration for $50!! I couldn't believe it either, which is why I went ahead and sent my check in early.

So... while I'm making major strides with signing up for Marathons earlier... when it comes to running a new race distance, such as a 50k... I, of course, resorted back to ole commitment freak Amy and thought... well, I'll just wait till a week or so beforehand. I want to make sure I get some good long trail runs in first.

I had my eye set on a race at the end of January in Alabama. One of my fellow relay teammates (who, by the way, is like my running idol, she runs tons of races, has done many 50ks and has completed a 50 miler!) told me that it was a good first 50k race. She had even ran it as her first.

I was pumped. While running the relay, a couple of my other teammates had mentioned that they were going to run it, too. So... I became even more psyched. And then we got home from the relay to find out that the race had sold out over the weekend. WTF? Who signs up for a trail 50k months in advance? Apparently... everyone.

We huddled up and came up with another idea... The Swampstomper 50k in Memphis. Perfect, I said! We discussed how we were going to train, long runs, etc and we were all excited and I was getting really nervous. So, I thought... well, I'll go ahead and sign up for the race... just in case it sells out, too.

Monday afternoon (after announcing to the world here on the blog that I was running the Swampstomper) I went to the website to register. And lo and behold... registration was CLOSED. F*CK. Seriously? What is the deal? Obviously running marathons and ultras is becoming way popular. Which, is great! But, it's also a bummer when you're not of the mindset to sign up for races months and months in advance.

I immediately emailed the race director with a short, but precise message:

"Shit! is the 50k full?????"

To which I got a response back of... "yes, it's full, but the park has allowed a couple of extra runners, so if you send me your registration ASAP I can get you in."

I immediately printed out the form, fired off a check and got that thing in the mail. Then I emailed my friends and told them to email the race director ASAP. That there were a few extra spots available.

So they did and the got an email response back soon after: DENIED: Field is full.

Shit. So, now... I'm signed up to run this race that was their idea in the first place and I got in and they didn't! I'm bummed and I feel kinda bad. It would have been REALLY nice to have some other people there with me that were running a 50k for the first time, as well. Ugh.

Lesson learned: Sign up for races early... or else you may not get in.