Marathon

I've applied to run the London Marathon in 2010! I've entered the public ballot along with 120,000 other people for the 20,000 spaces available, meaning I have a 1 in 6 chance of getting in the race... Or do I?

I also applied directly to the RNIB, a charity for blind people, to run the race for them, as there are 12,000 reserved spaces for charity runners. They have confirmed to me that I am on their list of reserve runners. This doesn't entitle me to a place in the race outright, but it does increase my chances when the public ballot results are drawn in September...

Many of the people who have applied directly to a charity would also have entered the public ballot too. Now if a charity selects their runners, and then some of these selected runners get public ballot places, these runners would technically have two places in the race, so the charity drops them from their team and offer the newly available places to their reserve runners...

My maths isn't great, but I think that shortens my odds to 2 in 11! I'm pleased with that!

Peace and Love
xx