Sign, Sealed and Delivered.

I've been eagerly awaiting July 1, 2011 for quite some time. Probably about a year in the waiting, in fact. Not because I am going on vacation, getting married, having a baby or doing anything that would make the 'normal' person excited. Nope, my excitement is due to the fact that registration for the JFK 50 miler opened today. For those of you not familiar with this race, it is the largest and oldest ultra-marathon in the country, and due to its prestige, it brings out the nation's best trail runners. It also takes place in Washington County, Maryland, not too far from my hometown and where my family currently resides. For all of these reasons, this race has been on my bucket list for quite some time.

I decided last summer that the 2011 race would be my year to go for it. The only catch? I had to get in. This race sells out very quickly, and I read that they were changing qualifying standards that would be announced in May 2011. Unsure of what this would mean to me, I waited. And waited. Finally, May came around and they posted the qualifying standards. And, much to my delight, they were in my favor, and I would be allowed to register in the first wave of applicants based on my marathon times.

Still, there would be no on-line registration. And, the entry form would not be posted until July 1, as well as any other race information. So, more waiting.

Until this morning. I woke up at 5 am for my run, and the first thing I did was check the JFK web site. The entry form was there! Hooray!

So, my 2011 JFK entry form is signed, sealed and delivered to the post-office for priority delivery. This is one thing I really pray to the mail gods that doesn't get lost in the mail. It's on the way to the great state of Maryland, along with the hefty $195 entry fee (this was a bit of an unpleasant surprise this morning when I learned how much they were charging).

So, until further notification, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and waiting for news that this will all become real.