Mount Marathon Race registration

Yeah, you know you wanna do it, right?

Great photo, huh? I didn't take it. It's by Ron Niebrugge.

It’s time to register for one of the most grueling and glorious races in Alaska. Mount Marathon racers and wannabes must apply for a lottery spot before midnight March 31. Cost is $25 for junior racers and $45 for adults http://www.seward.com/ .

That's the good news. The bad news is that if you're a newbie, it's really hard to get in. This is because previous racers have priority, and once you've raced, you're in for life as long as you continue racing each year.

I was lucky: I got in one my first try. That was three years ago, when the odds were much higher. Last year, 7% of men got in through the lottery and 16% of women. When I first applied, almost half of all women made it in.

(Right now I'm sitting comfy on the sofa and I can see Mt. Marathon right out my window. It's covered with snow, but no matter. I truly believe that because I shed blood on the mountain, that late at night when I sit by the window and write, the mountain feeds me energy. Call me crazy but I truly and totally believe this sometimes.)

Off to run. Lost my second pair of Yaktraxs on the trails yesteray. Just cannot get those babies to stay on my shoes. The sad part is that the last 100 feet of the trail was pure ice and I thought, "No problem, I've got my Yaktraxs."

A moment later I hit the ground, hard.

Turns out that I didn't have my Yaktraxs, sigh, sigh. Must have lost them somewhere on the trail. Now I have a nice bruise on my elbow and butt.

What is it about falling, though? There's something almost enticing in that moment when you lose your balance and know you're going down, something scary yet exciting in a horrible yet exhilarating heart-pounding, fist-clenching way. It's similar to that feeling of standing at the end of a cliff or top of a mountain and imagining hurling yourself over the edge, not because you want to die, which you don't, but because you long to know how it would feel to let lose and allow yourself to fly for a few seconds or minutes or however long it would take before your body crashed against the side on the way down.

Thankfully I'm running on fairly flat ground today.

Hope everyone is falling fast through the day, and landing softly.