The New York Marathon Resolution Resolution

So, finally, the guys at NYRR have published the conditions for entry to the 2013 New York Marathon over at ingnycmarathon.com. But, as usual, they have managed to do so in their usual ambiguous style. Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on my part but I interpret

"Applicants who would have qualified for the 2013 Marathon entry by being denied entry three consecutive times..."

to mean those who were denied entry via lottery in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and / or those who were denied entry via lottery in 2009, 2010 and 2011 but unable to run in 2012 because of the Sandy Super Storm. I fall into this latter category but I, like everyone else in my situation, was given the option to get my money back, which I did. So if the intention is to include people like myself, there will be a backlash from those who chose instead to pay again for guaranteed entry in 2013. I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't be eligible for guaranteed entry in 2013 although there is a clear bias towards those who have shown a consistent commitment to NYRR.

The other possibility open to me is to get in on my qualifying time of 1:19:03 in the Getafe Half Marathon that I ran on the 27th of January. For my age group of 40-44, this is well below the cut-off of 1:23:00 and is within the window of 1st January 2012 to 31st January 2013. They have not changed the previously published qualifying times (that were already a step up from those which applied in 2012) but they have given guaranteed entry to only those qualifying in NYRR races while limiting to a total of 2,000 runners who may obtain entry with a qualifying time. Those, like myself, who have qualified in a non-NYRR race will be picked out of a hat. The odds don't look too good to me; I would have preferred them to have made the qualifying times more strict but, again, their aim seems to be to reward loyalty rather than quality.

I'm not in a particular rush to run the NY Marathon. After all, I have patiently waited 4 years so a couple more years won't hurt. I will be going to New York in June for work so I'll get my dose of the Big Apple this year irrespective of whether I get lucky or not.

UPDATE: The lottery entry does not apply to people like myself, who opted for their money back. It's to be expected I suppose - I mean, someone's got to lose out and we were given the (albeit expensive) option to run it this year, paying again. My only complaint would be that in my opinion the people who get in via qualifying times should be ordered by how much they beat the qualifying time by, rather than randomly selected, similar to the selection process for the Boston Marathon.