Shut out of the Philadelphia Half Marathon

When I ran the Broad Street Run in May with my niece and nephew, I suggested that we run the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November (crazy idea, I know.)

I don't run well in the summer--the heat is too much for me, although I still run about 15 miles a week, 60 miles per month.

Once the weather gets cooler, I can run farther, and I get more ambitious.

With the Half Marathon slated for November 22nd, I didn't think it was a big deal NOT to have signed up already by September 20th---but that's when the available slots for both the Marathon (10,000 spots) and the Half Marathon (8,000 spots) filled up. The remaining 2,000 spots of the total of 20,000 go to the Rothman 8K, a race I've run several times, and is simply not worth it in my mind to deal with the mess of having to be in town by 5:30AM to get a parking spot.

It's a shame I'm shut of out the Half Marathon, since I'm really running well, and pretty far.

Monday mornings I get up at 4:30AM and run 10 to 11 miles---so I'm well on pace to be able to complete 13.1

Having seen the movie, Run, Fatboy, Run, I got the idea that I could possibly find a charity to run with.

I was right.

Two charities, Back on my Feet, and Run Philly Style, apparently pre-purchased 'spots', and I can buy them from them if I am willing to raise money for them.

Back on my Feet is a regional organization that tries to help homeless people by getting them interested in running.

Run Philly Style tries to get sedentary students into running to help them healthwise.

No big deal, I thought, I was a top fund raiser for the MS150 the 3 years I rode it back in the late 90's and early 2000's. I regularly raised $1,000 and up for them.

Only problem is Back on My Feet wants $1,800---and if I don't raise it, they'll bill my credit card. Run Philly Style wants $1,000--same deal.

I contacted Back on My Feet and offered to raise as much money as I can for them--but received a canned response with the details of joining them.

I didn't bother with Run Philly Style.

I received an email about a week ago indicating there were still 8  'spots' available from Back on My feet, but they were going fast. I just checked their website and it seems like they are all gone...

http://philadelphia.backonmyfeet.org/Philadelphia-Landing.html

By the way, one runner can't transfer their registration to me. So for instance, if someone who is injured
would like to sell me their $100 'spot', they can't do do so. Well, I suppose they can illegally, but I would be running under their name. There are 'spots' being sold on Craigslist.

A friend of mine who has run the race says the 20,000 person limitation is reasonable--he said there are spots in the race where both Marathon and Half Marathon runners are traveling through some very tight areas--we don't want anyone hurt.

I can understand that--but the restriction on transferring a registration to another runner seems silly---why not charge a $10 fee to do so. Early on, I believe, they were charging a fee to change a registration from Half Marathon to Marathon and vice versa.

Of course, there's nothing to stop me from running my own Half Marathon one of these Monday mornings---maybe I'll even drop off a check to Back on My Feet and/or Run Philly Style after I'm done it.