Between personal challenges and charitable incentives, these days running a marathon seems to be taking up a lot room at the top of our bucket lists, and resolution ambitions. So much room, in fact, that the popular marathons are now employing a different kind of registration practice. I understand that with programs like Team in Training, running a marathon becomes an achievable goal for many people who never would have put themselves out there on the course. (I wont get into the politics of TNT, but I will put it on the record that I disagree with the way they handle their organization.)

Although the economy seems to be hitting distance running (this year, there are a handful of marathons that are shutting down because of a lack of participants, leading to a lack of funding; some elite athletes are struggling to have their sponsorships renewed; the Chicago Marathon didn’t sell out for days after registration opened while it usually sells out within hours; marathon entry prices have jumped from an average of $90-100 to around $120-170), the marathon big dogs are continuing with the lottery tradition.

Perhaps this is a play on reverse psychology in an effort to attract more entrants, we all know it worked for the Boston Marathon. Officials of the Boston Marathon decided to regulate participation by mandating a qualifying time. They thought this would make their marathon less attractive, but once the opportunity for competition enters a distance runner’s psyche they become thirsty for more. What the officials saw after implementing a qualifying time was a surge of runners interested in competing at Boston.

However, even having this opinion on why officials choose to hold a lottery over open registration doesn’t deter me from entering two lotteries for 2009. I’m crossing my fingers for both the Nike Women’s Marathon held in San Francisco, and the ING NYC Marathon in New York. They’re back to back, so I’m taking a bit of a chance, but… I’m not going to let Nike, or ING tell me that I can’t run their marathon! Wish me luck.

Nike Women’s Lottery entry

ING NYC Marathon lottery entry