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NYC Marathon live stream, Soldier Field 10 mile and free Cubs tickets

Did anyone else watch the ING New York City Marathon Opening Day live stream yesterday at 11 (noon EDT)? I watched about ten minutes of it and got appropriately psyched for the race but then when they closed the login site so that you couldn't check your own status I decided to stop watching. 

Originally they updated it to say that the site would reopen this morning at 10am, but yesterday afternoon I tried again and was able to login to my account. That's when I found out that...

I didn't get in.

But then my wife logged in and she saw this little badge:
 
So she is in for 2012! 

Here's the funny thing: over the last four years both my wife and I have entered the marathon lottery. And somehow, one of us has gotten in each year: 
  • 2009:  Me
  • 2010: Her
  • 2011:  Me
  • 2012: Her
This back and forth has worked perfectly because it means one of us gets to run while the other one gets to enlist all of our New York friends in assisting us in a whirlwind marathon cheering tour of the city. If only we had this kind of luck in Vegas (or I guess in Chicago soon enough, if Rahm gets his way).

In other race news, Fleet Feet Sports Soldier Field 10 Mile announced a "draft" this morning where they offer a "signing bonus" to anyone who gets their friends to sign up for the race over the next several days, on the following referral scale:
  • Thursday, April 26th only: $15/per registration
  • Friday, April 27th only: $10/per registration
  • Saturday, April 28th: $5/per registration
  • Sunday, April 29th: $5/per registration
Very interesting marketing plan. I think I like it. But while I can definitely see this getting those already registered to promote the race to friends, I wonder if it's enough impetus to get people to register. I would think it would need to be combined with some kind of discount for the registrant as well.

Anyway... speaking of Fleet Feet, on Tuesday afternoon I was running home from work (stopped at Fleet Feet to pick up my race packet for this weekend's Ravenswood Run) when a guy in front of a building at La Salle and Division waved two tickets at me and yelled "Hey! You want Cubs tickets?!?" 

I stopped running and walked over to him. He waved them again and handed them to me, saying "Free tickets. I shit you not." 

Unfortunately the game started about 30 minutes after he gave them to me so I wasn't able to make it, but it was still cool to get tickets. And I heard the next day that the game went into extra innings, so I probably should have just showed up late. Oh well. 

Thanks for the tickets random guy!
"Free tickets. I shit you not."

Comments

  1. Free tickets?? Now that is the life! I was once at a bulls playoff game, in like the very last row, and a guy who had to leave suddenly gave us his tickets - for the 6th row! It was insane.

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