Two years ago, I trained for a marathon with the goal of qualifying for Boston. On an absolutely beautiful day in Eugene, OR, in front of a bunch of cheering family and friends, I missed my qualifying time (3:40) by 3 minutes! Since the heartache occurred, I haven’t made any other attempts at reaching this goal. I haven’t given up, I’m just waiting for a time when my schedule will allow crazy long runs again. I’m also waiting to age a bit more. You know… so I can get into a slower qualifying bracket! :)
Some interesting facts:
*There hasn’t been an American winner (male or female) since 1983. Seems we are always chasing the Kenyans, Ethiopians and Russians. Cheer for Ryan Hall or Meb Keflezighi if you want USA to end in front.
*Women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon until 1971. Several women snuck into the race before they were allowed, running without bib numbers or being disqualified at the end.
*The total prize money distributed among the winners will be $806,000. There's some motivation.
*Approximately 500,000 spectators line the 26.2-mile course annually. I sure hope there are a lot of port-o-pots... and hand sanitizer!
Go Boston!
Yay Boston! Pretty good showing by the US today, although I was hoping Meb would pull another NYC (he was the 1st American to win that race since 1982).
ReplyDeleteA course record was set today by Robert Cheruiyot, breaking the previous record of a different Robert Cheruiyot (no, really) who is NOT related to the present Robert C. at all. Crazy!
Anyway, on a personal note, I have certainly toyed with the idea of attempting to qualify for Boston. I have never trained with that ambition before, but maaaybe if I shave a few minutes off my time... and wait a few years for the next qualifying bracket. So glad to know I'm not the only one who's thought of doing that! ;)
I think it would be awesome, if anyone wants to set a goal or a date of a qualifying race let me know. Qualifying for Boston is on my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd love to set a goal for sometime in the future...like, maybe Eugene 2112 as a qualifying race. I've also heard the Skagit flats marathon is super fast (that might be a good one to try to qualify with). It would be nice to run as a small group...encouraging eachother along the way!!
ReplyDeleteMy super fiance sent me an article today I think would be beneficial. Ten best Marathons to qualify for Boston.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.active.com/running/Articles/10_Best_Boston_Qualifiers.htm?act=EMC-Active&Vehicle=Running&Date=04_21_10&Edition=1&Sections=Articles&Creative=10_Best_Boston
Since it's definitely not easy in any way, we may as well try to make it less difficult, if at all possible.
I received that article in my email too! At first I was intrigued by the Newport one, but they don't use timing chips- boo!
ReplyDeleteI've looked at the California International Marathon before as a good option. It's supposed to be one of the fastest courses in the country (net downhill), plus I believe your qualifying time is good for 2 different years because of the time of year of the event.
"Net downhill" sounds good to me! :)
ReplyDelete2012 sounds great to me! :) Maybe if I start now I will suceed at shaving off the 1 min 30 sec per mile that I need against my time by then. ;)
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