Registration Is Over!

The last mailbag for T.I.v10

I said Monday morning that it would be a crazy day, and I was spot on! Trans Iowa filled out its 120 spot roster yesterday, and here's the brief recounting of just how that happened.

First off, I may have to explain once again that finishers of past Trans Iowas get first crack at the roster. They take a certain number of spots off the top of that 120, and whetver is left over gets split as evenly as possible between the Veterans of past Trans Iowas and the newbies, whom I have dubbed "rookies". This year the Veterans had 42 spots, which got filled out last week, and the Rookies had their crack at the remaining 41 starting yesterday.

I got to work and there were three groups of cards already there via courier, dropped off at the front door, and by a flower delivery guy. I suppose about 12 spots were lopped off the top right there. That was pretty amazing, but the UPS overnight and FedX were yet to come.

I think a couple of walk-ins showed up next, and that cut about three more spots off. Then UPS came with about five overnighted letters. That dropped us to 21. Not more than a half an hour later, FedX showed up with seven overnighted letters. That dropped us to 14, and we had still to receive the day's post.

One thing was increasingly clear- Trans Iowa's roster was going to fill up on Monday! Then we had two more walk-in drop offs, bringing the total left down to 12. I figured that we would get more than 12 entries in the mail, and some folks were going to end up in "the pile of broken dreams", as were were referring to it as. I figured only a few would end up there.

Now when the postman comes in, I was going to take the stack, however many there were, flip it upside down, and take the first twelve off. Random. The fairest way I could do this. Now keep in mind- the cards had to be filled out correctly, and I had to be able to read them.

The mail man came in eventually, and he had a fistful of cards! I was floored! I did the flip, looked over the cards, had to throw two out for illegibility and one for an incomplete answer to the question asked, and that was that. I had 12 entries extra! What is more, I am sure some stragglers will show up today, pushing the "pile of broken dreams" higher.

So, there is your report on the crazy registration that filled up for the Rookies in four hours! Congratulations to all who made it on the roster, and to those who tried, I thank you as well. It is humbling and amazing to me that this event draws out such responses from all of you who sent in entries. Thank you isn't enough!