Thankfully, I am all signed up for the Santa Barbara International Marathon.  In my excitement, I started to sift around Al Gore’s invention for other alluring 26.2 mile events.  Just curious.  Just because…..um….look a plane!

Everything is full.  I have not run a marathon in 11 years.  [Clearing throat] Back then, one could kind of decide a couple nights before over beer bets to go belly up at the starting line or was that finish line?  Now people have to plan like a year in advance to run an event, qualify or enter a lottery!  Lucky Lotto Number…you sir get to rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrun 26.2 miles!  Please bring your own socks, shoes, shirt, gels, and vaseline.  We’ll give you water every now and then and snap a photo of you at the finish.  Please train for this event.  We will have medical people everywhere, but we’d prefer they just drank coffee.

Did you know that ONLY 5,000 people get to run the SBIM?!  That is like one more than 4,999.  Did you know that everybody that I know is already signed up?

“But I was going to wait until Labor Day and sign my husband up then as you know a nice “labor” day gift.”

“But I was going to sign up the day after Thanksgiving when I am sure that I’ll do anything to take away the pain of too much turkey.”

“But….but….but……”

Watch your but(t) or else we will all be watching it on the sidelines!  Sign up.

Moms get one; Dads get one; Grandma and Grandpa; Secretaries; Nurses and Teachers get a week; St. Valentine got one and only Hallmark knows why; work ethic got one; Presidents got one; Columbus, he has one; Veterans; some may say January 8th is for Elvis; and now we Runners get one too!

Happy National Runners Day!  What does that mean?  I would interpert this to clearly be a time to reflect and recognize that special runner in your life and to buy her new running clothes, shoes, socks, and ice cream treats.  Wink-wink, friend? 

OK maybe it means go for a run.  Wait a minute, wait a minute….you do that everyday!

OH, I got it!  Today is the day that you SIGN UP FOR THE SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL MARATHON! 

  Wait, that looks like New York?  Precisely.  Everyone in New York will be desperately wishing they were running in Santa Barbara on December 6th.  Trust me.

“Um, Drea?  Have you signed up for the marathon?”

Not yet.  I was saving it for today obviously!  Ask me in five minutes.

March Madness.  Bounce with me here, although this is not a bunch of dribble on basketball.  Clearly, I am referencing the Santa Barbara International Marathon.  Why?  Because registration fees increase March 1st. 

“Hey, how much?”

Oh you are so persistent!  “Ten Bucks.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem like much.  I’m gonna wait.”

Roll with me here.  You take you and your honey out for ice cream.  A couple of cones in hand and you stroll along chatting about all the things you would like to someday achieve in life.  I come up with my half-pint hoodlums and lift those cones off you and your girl.  That’s right, I just fronted on your fro-yo.  What’ya’gonna’do?  Tell me to lick it?  Bet you miss that Ten Bucks now.

Please, do not make me teach you this economic lesson.

If you love something, set it free?  Oh no, freedom might find its way to the couch with a bag of chips and cans wrinkling up at its feet.  Processed snack romance is ignoring your red nails tapping XO’s into the table top.

All you need is love?  Love is a many splendid thing?  Shhhh, Victoria’s Secret is not so hush-hush.  Naturally, she must run.  Looking for something Racey this Valentines day?  Sign you and your loved one up for the Santa Barbara International Marathon.  This will be an affair to remember.

Everything about Valentine’s Day says marathon.  Love hurts.  Of course, marathons do not hurt.  Love is like oxygen.  Good, oxygen will be needed.  Love lifts us up where we belong.  The finish line.  Love will never tear us apart.  A marathon would not do that either.  You can follow the Lady in Red, maybe her name is Etta and she will sing you sweet At Last as you complete 26.2 miles of love.  No?  Not feeling it?  Your melody is still chained?

Box of chocolates?  Box of chocolate Gu.  Dozen roses?  Dozen mile repeats.  Lingerie? Running shorts and perhaps socks.  Then you can knock them off!

No?  Amore still needs more.  OK.  Give the gift of a marathon at Valentine’s day and re-gift it at Christmas!  Eye on the prize and the bargain.  Race day is December 6, 2009.  An entry wrapped in red ribbon now can be rekindled later when you help give a personal record on a beautiful course.  Cupid to coco, hearts to mistletoe, your tinsel Can’t Help Falling In Love, uh-hu.

Speaking of a bargain, race registration fees go up after March 1st.  This Valentines Day, switch out Johann Sebastian Bach for the Skid Row Sebastian Bach and get ready to rock your run.  Come on, do something Racey!