2 Weeks Left: My Gambling Efforts to Raise Money
April 19, 2009 – 7:53 pmYesterday, we headed to Keeneland after the run in the morning.
Here’s the quick morning run update. 11 miles. Overslept. Arrived 30 minutes late. Route was out to Lunkin Airport and back. Great.
Because it was an out and back run, this meant I had to pass everyone in front of me on my way out. I called it “The run of shame.”
*Sigh*
I’m not sure what’s going on but lately I’ve been having trouble getting up at 6 on Saturday for the runs. Note to self: Make sure to set alarm for the marathon.
Turning to fundraising news. Here are my 2 attempts to gamble my way to reach my fundraising goal.
Keeneland
It was the nicest day of the year. Everyone else wanted to go to Keeneland too. New Circle Road in Lexington was backed up for 5 miles trying to get into Keeneland.
Most of our day was spent in the car trying to amuse ourselves and watching people run into the fields to pee.
We arrived just before the 6th race. That’s 5 races where I could have won.
I’ve never seen more people at Keeneland. They packed us in like cattle. You couldn’t even get to the betting windows until people started to leave.
We finally placed some bets on the 7th race. I played the 3-5 exacta box and made a couple of long shot bets to win. Nothing.
We did score some cocktails and the cocktails seemed to make things a lot better. The ladies looked very nice in their outfits and hats.
Before the 8th race, we tried to find cooked pretzels only to be denied the last pretzels in the park by someone about 4 people in front of us.
The 8th race was on grass and I played a hunch to go with the horse with the worst name, Diamondella. Diamondella came from behind in the last stretch and won me $8.80.
NCAA Basketball Tournament
This was my second attempt to earn money for LLS. I entered Brad’s 9th annual NCAA pool not really thinking I had a chance.
But at the end of the first two rounds I was in the lead thanks to my new strategy of picking teams that I hate to win.
This involved picking such detestable teams as North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Duke to win.
When it came down to the final 8, I needed Pitt to beat Villanova for an almost assured win. Villanova won. I finished second, but still managed to win a decent amount for the cause.
