Promise you won’t get mad, ok?  Promise?  Promise? Good.  So you know how I was all like “hey I’m going to do triathlons.” and you were like “yea, cool I guess.” and I was like “heck yea, running is so cliché.” and you were like “Totally.”  Well, we might need to pretend like that never happened, at least for a little bit.  Like until October 9th.  You see, I entered a contest who knows how many weeks (months?) ago on The Facebook and then promptly forgot about it.  And now I’m signed up for a marathon.  Yep, I know.  But you promised.

This contest on Facebook was put on by Volkswagen.  It’s basically a lottery where they pick 16 people at random to win a Golden Bib (like a golden ticket) to be on Team VW for the Chicago Marathon (which sold out all 45,000 spots in just 31 days).

Well, on Tuesday a little after midnight I got an email (click to see email) that said I won a spot!!  The cynic inside me thought “SCAM!”, but after some research I eventually contacted the person mentioned in the email.  Shortly thereafter I had a voicemail from the contest people (Deutsch Inc) saying that I did in fact win and they wanted to talk to me to see if I still wanted to be on the team.

I don’t know what my first thought was, but it wasn’t a crystal clear “yes!”.  Once I wrapped my head around it I started trying to figure out if I could run in the marathon and do a Half Ironman.  I mean, endurance is endurance, right?  I can train for a Half Ironman and then take a weekend for a casual marathon.  Well, I’m not so sure; that’s still TBD.  Regardless, I ran it by the one who knows me better than I know me (Ev) and she gave an overwhelming “Do it!!” which shoved me off the fence.  And with that, I have contacted the fine people at Deutsch Inc to let them know that I will be a member of Team VW.

As for what I actually won, it sounds mighty awesome!  In no particular order, and with things still being ironed out on their end, I will most likely:

• get profiled in Das Auto, Volkswagen’s magazine, along with the other participants;
• be shown off on the Team VW’s Facebook page with my profile;
• have my training and progress tracked and shared on the above Facebook page;
• get some sweet Team VW gear to train and race in (like shirt, shorts, hat, etc.);
• meet Dean Karnazes at the race expo in a 1-on-16 setting with the team (instead of 1-on-45,000);
• possibly be interviewed on race morning for a little more PR (public relation, not personal record);

and other PR-y types of things.

So you can bet your last nickel that I’ll be keep you all updated with the latest goings on with Team VW.  First up is I need to send them some background info on me.  I’m super excited for this one-time opportunity and can’t wait to get started.

What I need to do is figure out how my training is going to change for the next four months.  It actually works out quite well for a 16-week marathon training plan, if I go that route.  Which brings up the question of what my actual priorities are.  Should I focus on the Chicago Marathon and try to rock it?  Should I train for a Half Ironman (still not registered for one) and let my tri training carry me into the marathon and just run it for fun?  Some sort of hybrid of the two?  I don’t know, but I hope to make a decision in the next few days.

Get excited!