Marine Corps Marathon: 2 hours and 41 minutes

HECK NO IS THAT MY TIME!!!!

Wednesday at 3pm ET registration opened for the 37th running of the Marine Corps Marathon which will be held on Sunday, October 28th in parts of our nation's capital.

(Seeing the family around mile 16 during 2010's MCM)

I tried registering promptly at 3:01pm and couldn't access the registration site through Active.com. There were so many people attempting to register that it shut down the website!

Thankfully, at 3:20pm I was able to register! I was nervous because I didn't get my confirmation email for a few more hours.

However, the race sold out in 2 hours and 41 minutes and according to RunningUSA that's the fastest sell out of all U.S. marathons! For reference, Tezata Dengersa, the 2011 Women's Winner of MCM ran the course in 2:39:19. The race sold out in just over two minutes slower than the fastest woman last year ran the race!

It's crazy and inspiring that there are so many people out there in the world that want to run the People's Marathon. I don't know if Marine Corps will go the way of Boston and introduce some type of rolling admission because that seems counter-intuitive to the entire notion of having a "People's Marathon." I just know that in future years I'm going to make sure to have a calendar reminder setup for registration time and register ASAP.

I've already been shut out of one race this year and I wasn't about to let Marine Corps be my second.

I'm really looking forward to running MCM again. I've run the same half marathon three years in a row and it's really nice knowing a course and having a heads up on where the hills and trouble spots are located. It'll be very calming on October 28th that I've survived the course before and I can do it again.

The only downside to 2012's MCM edition is that my bestie isn't running :( She's in the lottery for NYC and I hope to goodness she gets in. Unfortunately, the races are just a week apart so there's no way she could do both. I know I can count on her to cheer for me during MCM and perhaps I need to return the favor and go to to New York to cheer for her as well.

I'm kind of nervous, this will be the first big race I've run without her. She's been at the start line with me and has waited at the finish for me for every half marathon or marathon I've run. This is going to be weird. However, I do remember her cheering for me during the 2010 Cherry Blossom and it was amazing to hear her voice pop up all over the course. Okay, it looks like I definitely need to go to New York and return the favor :)

Anyone else running Marine Corps? Any other fall marathons on your calendar?