IronMan Hawaii Lottery

Background information for normal people who don’t know that much about IronMan:

• IronMan is typically associated with a distance to be applied to triathlon equaling a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride and concluded with a 26.2 mile run.
• There are multiple Iron distance races which take place all over the world:  http://ironman.com/events/ironman is a list of the events sponsored by Ford.
• In order to race in the world champion event in Hawaii, a racer must either have a qualifying race at one of the Iron distance races sponsored by Ford, receive a special invitation, or get a spot through the lottery system.
• The IronMan lottery selects 150 US applicants to receive an invitation to the race.

Here is the deal.  I am not sure what kind of odds are attributed per lottery entry but I can guess that they are not good.  My dilemma is this.  Let’s fantasize for a minute that I win a spot.  Is this really the way I want to get there?  The cutoff for lottery entry is February 28th.  It would be huge to be able to race in Kona.  However, I am not sure that getting there under special circumstances is the way to go.

I am going to put together a poll to see what you think.