It's official!

Today I received my super secret code from NSAL and got my official entry into the 2010 NYC Marathon!!!

I should be writing in all caps how excited I am -- and I am, believe me -- but I've known I was accepted for a few weeks now. I cried when I got that email because I was so happy. But now it's time to get down to business. Since I'm making this blog about everything marathon related, the good and the bad, I guess this next bit will be quite the opposite of shouting my good news from the roof -- it's going to be a mini-rant about how freaking expensive this whole thing is. It was $11 just to apply for the marathon, a fee which is NOT credited towards your entry fee. FYI, last year they got 100,000 applications at $11 a pop. That's not too shabby. Today I paid $185 for my official entry. I've already given NSAL $100 good faith deposit toward my charity contribution. The charity bit was my own doing, however. I did not have to take this on in order to run NYC, but I might also have to wait another 3 years to make the official lottery so it was an expense I was willing to make as a trade-off for getting to do it this year.

Anyway, so far I'm in $299 and I haven't even started training yet. I will probably spend about $800 (if I'm lucky) for a hotel room for 2 nights. Plus another $100 in gas, parking, and tolls. Plus another $200 or so for meals. Plus at least $200 in NYC Marathon logo crap I'll have to have when I go to the expo to pick up my number. And, of course, I'll want something like this after the event to memorialize my accomplishment. I've seen these companies at every race expo I've ever been to and have always said if I ever did a full marathon that I'd get one. So that's another $150 or so. There will be race photos I'll want (hopefully, although I think race photographers secretly despise runners because I only get a decent shot once out of every 10 races I do) and those are usually 25 bucks each. I'm pretty sure NYC charges you another 11 bucks or something like that so your family can track you online or they can get a text message with your splits so they know where the hell you are in a crowd of 40,000 people. You'd think that was an unnecessary expense but if I'm asking someone to stand in Central Park for a couple of hours to see me finish, I'm sure the both of us would be pretty pissed if they missed me and I missed them. And then, of course, if I fail to raise the $2500 promised to NSAL, they'll just add the remaining $2400 to my credit card but I won't let that happen so I'm not figuring that in. So all told, this race -- run on foot -- without the need for any particularly special equipment or gear, one of the simplest exercises around, will end up costing about $2,000, which works out to be $73.36 a mile. Now this is where I'm supposed to hear Morgan Freeman voicing over the picture of a beaming me crossing the finish line saying, "Cost of being a NYC Marathon Finisher: Priceless" but that's not quite the truth. I mean, I've been told it's the experience of a lifetime and lord knows I've blown more than that in a year at the casino (no, I don't have a problem) but yeah, look before you leap.

That all said, I really am thrilled to be doing this. I wanted something big this year to work for and NYC is about as big as it gets. Bring it on!