We did NOT get the golden ticket

Aw cuss!! Fears are confirmed - we did not get selected by the lottery for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.

But congrats to the hubster's aunt and uncle who did! Which means they'll be coming to DC to visit - and that makes us super excited! Hubby's aunt and uncle actually met through a running group in Memphis where they live. They are marathon veterans - and I certainly plan on picking their brains and possibly even hitting them up for a guest post...pretty please Jennie and John?

So what are we to do now? Well there are really four options.

1. Become an online charity fundraiser. While I love a good charity - especially one that helps to treat sick children - this gives me anxiety. Basically you just have to raise $500 and you're in! Sounds simple right - especially when you think of all the friends, family, and co-workers you could hit up for just small amounts of $10 to $20 to equal the total amount of $500. However, let's just say I'm a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to some things, and it wouldn't be unheard of for me to not get on the raising of the funds early enough, and then I would likely be writing a $500 check with $500 that doesn't actually exist. I wish I could give thousands (actually millions -because then that would mean that I had millions myself) to charity - but at this stage in my life, that's just not in the cards.
2. Cross our fingers for the number transfer process. Based on my rejection email from the nice people with the lottery, last year nearly 1,000 runners obtained entry through this process - which will be taking place Feb 1st through Feb 28th. But with this, do we need to know another runner who can no longer participate, or is there a Craig's list-ish forum where you just post that you would like a transfer and hope it works out? Also, there is the risk that one of us would be able to transfer in and the other one might not - and we don't like that risk because we're in this together.
3. Volunteer for the race this year. Volunteering for the race this year gets you automatic entry into the Cherry Blossom run for 2012. In their book Running for Mortals Coach Jenny and the Penguin recommend that runners new to racing volunteer to work races because it allows you to be a part of the race day atmosphere, promotes a sense of camaraderie, and it helps you understand what race day is all about. It gives you an appreciation for all that it takes to put on a race, and an appreciation for the volunteers when you run one. Also, if you're working a water station it helps you learn how to go through one yourself. (which for some reason just happens to be something about races that makes me nervous)
4. Our final option - suck it up - understand that we just did not get in, and party that much harder on Sal's actual birthday (which just happens to be April 2nd, the day before the big run) - because we won't have to wake up at the crack of dawn like all of those fools actually running in the race.

Looks like we have some options to weigh and a decision to make. But in the mean time, because we didn't get to post the fun "we won the golden ticket" video....we're feeling a bit more like Veruka.