Suspending the suspense.

I’m about to disappoint you bitterly. I’m so sorry. I whipped us all into a collective frenzy of excitement over the lottery drawing on March 15 for the New York City Marathon, but ...

It’s not happening.

Sorry that had to be blunt and brutal. I think it best to deliver bad news swiftly. Like ripping off a Band-Aid on the count of two.

I went to the Web site of the New York Road Runners last night to find out what time they will announce the Marathon Lottery Chosen Ones. Bad news. I made a mistake. The lottery closes at 11:59 p.m. on March 15, but the New York Road Runners will not draw that night. They’re going to wait until “late March.”

I’m going to stop the countdown because I have no way of pinpointing “late March.” I will resume obsessing every day after March 15 … until.

I wonder what the New York Road Runners will be doing with all the lottery applicants’ forms between March 15 and “late March.” Thousands and thousands of games of Rock, Paper, Scissors? I know they're the most experienced in the world at marathon administration and totally know how to manage their lottery, but I can't help feeling sorry for them. When I signed up in early January, my lottery number was OVER 500,000. More than two months later, the mind reels.

I know it might have appeared to the outside observer that Bev had gone a little psycho over the 15th. But I remind you that I'm a rough, tough marathon runner ... much more in control than that. In fact, I am Zen-like in my serenity. "If a runner falls through the cracks and no one draws her name, was she still running?" Let us remind ourselves, Grasshopper, the treasures of marathon training are like a million hidden jewels embedded within many, many months of hard work and discipline—not within the ONE day of running on November 7th in New York.

You didn’t believe that any more than I did when I said it, did you??? I just spewed Diet Coke all over my keyboard. Let us laugh hysterically together!