Advice Needed . . .

Okay, I've gotten myself into a bit of a pickle here. I think I've already decided on what the solution will be, thanks to my inability to think in any kind of logical and/or rational way . . . but I wanted to get some advice from y'all anyway. I obviously don't trust myself--and if you guys comment and happen to back up what I'm trying to do here--then, you see, I might not be so crazy. So here goes . . .

I really wanted to try to run NYC this year. BUT. We all know about the lottery system and we all know that, despite my nickname, I don't exactly happen to have any of that "luck of the Irish" stuff everyone claims exists (perhaps it would help if I were actually Irish). So, originally, I was thinking I would just go the charity route should I be rejected from the NYC lottery system. Now, this means that it would then be my responsibility to raise money for whichever charity I ran for. AND since I pretty much refuse to ask people for money (even for charity), it means that I myself would have to donate the minimum donation amount minus whatever I could guilt my parents, sisters and boyfriend out of. Yeah. Seeing as how I am POOR . . . not good. But still, I've been wanting to run NYC, and considering this might be my last year living in NYC . . . I figured I should probably just make it happen through whatever means necessary.

Well, all of a sudden my calm little world of fall marathons got a nice, big shake this morning when I received an email from AP. You may remember AP from such classics as Irish Cream's Super Detailed 2008 L.A. Marathon Race Report. In short, AP is one of my bestest girlfriends from college, who also happens to run marathons. I don't want to brag, but she's pretty much a rockstar. So anyway, we were supposed to run L.A. together, but she ended up not being able to . . . so NOW she has just registered for the Chicago Marathon, and she asked if I'd be interested in doing the same. I wrote her back and told her I'd have to think about it since I've already registered myself for the NYC lottery (and both NYC and Chicago's registration fees are expensive to the forty-fifth power).

So I sat at my desk, trying to figure it out. I really do want to run Chicago someday . . . I mean, it's my hometown! It was the first marathon I ever witnessed in person (my cross country team volunteered for it one year in high school). Thus, it's also the race that first sparked my interest in marathoning. Plus, I'm figuring this year would probably be a great year to run it, since the organizers will be extra cautious and overly prepared, considering last year's drama. And--oh yeah--I really am excited to get to run one with AP! Anyway . . . according to AP, it's looking like the race will fill up within the next couple weeks. And I won't find out if I got into NYC until June-ish. Yikes. So after probably 5 minutes of "seriously thinking things through," I wrote AP back and reported, "Okay, I thought about it . . . I think I'm going to register for Chicago."

Ha, good one, Irish! So now I apparently have indeed decided to go ahead and register for Chicago (please note I haven't actually done it yet, thanks to commitophobia--so it's not exactly a done deal). That way, I have a backup plan in place, should I get rejected from NYC (and it won't involved paying thousands of dollars out of my pocket to charity--not that there's anything wrong with that, but yeah . . .). BUT, here's the question. What if I DO get accepted to NYC? Do we really think I could pull off 2 marathons in less than a month? Chicago is October 12, 2008. NYC is on November 2, 2008. I should probably also mention that I would have to fly to Italy for my best friend's wedding on October 15. I'll be there for like a week. Ha. I know people do this whole two marathons in a short period of time thing, but can I? Have I completely lost it? Advice and wisdom please!!