One Second. No Asterisk.
The Boston Marathon is not just another race. It’s the oldest annual marathon in the world. 2007 will mark the eleventy-first (111th) running. Hugely popular, over a million people come out to watch.
Not just anyone can run Boston. You must first finish a marathon within a qualifying time based on your age and gender. I’m a 36 year old male, so I need to run a 3 hours and 15 minute marathon to get to the famed race.
Now, the folks at the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) are a generous lot. They give you 59 extra seconds. So for me, anything up to 3:15:59 is fine, so long as I don’t hit 3:16:00. This is like setting your alarm clock for 6:00am and giving yourself the benefit of the doubt until 6:00:59. Technically, it’s still 6:00.
Make no mistake, The BAA is decidedly anal retentive about time. Consider the results of the 2005 Kiawah Marathon. Dan Johnston, a 36 year old male needed a 3:15:59 to qualify for Boston. Unfortunately, he finished at precisely 3:16:00. In a 26.2 mile race, he was just one second too slow. Folks who qualified got an asterisk by their names. Not so for Dan. Now that’s tough love. I really feel for Dan.
3:15 will be a challenge. I’ve never gone that fast (a 7:27/mile pace). I can’t cut it that close, so I’m training for a 7:20/mile pace, which would get me 3:12:08. It’s not much of a cushion, but it will have to do.
My best marathon to date was Disney 2006, where I ran a 3:31:57. This sounds pretty close to 3:15. But it represents about an 8:00/mile pace. At 7:20/mile, I’m training for 40 seconds per mile faster than the fastest I’ve ever gone.
In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I collapsed at the end of the 2006 Disney Marathon and spent an hour in the hospital tent.
October 30th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
My qualifying time for the Boston Marathon is 30yrs, 8 months, 2 days, 3 hrs, 27 mins, 35.288 sec and counting.
October 30th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
Possible myth warning… Once there was a woman who saw Picasso in the park. She asked him to do her portrait. He agreed, took out his sketchbook and studied the woman carefully. He stared at her for over an hour. Then, with one bold stroke of his charcoal, he created an abstract likeness of the woman.
She was enthralled. “It is so evokative! You captured my face perfectly with a single stroke! What do I owe you?” Picasso replied, “Five thousand dollars.” The woman, taken aback said, “That is so expensive! It only took you one second to draw it.” Picasso replied proudly, “No madam, this portrait has taken me my entire life.”
You may choose not to run, Andrew, but you already understand what it takes ot get to Boston better than most.
October 31st, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Your story reminds me of a story I once heard that always inspired me. You see, a bear and a rabbit, traveling through the woods paused for a pit stop. The bear, turning to the rabbit, inquired “Do you have a problem with poop sticking to your fur?†The rabbit, slightly puzzled, responded “No, I don’tâ€. The bear promptly wiped with the rabbit.
You see, while the rabbit was a much faster animal, spending much of its life running, the bear, out of sheer girth and power was able to overtake the scrawny creature with one hand. The bear, conserving its energy and sleeping for a majority of its life simply had size on his side. Running would have been a painful and quite fruitless endeavor for the bear. The moral of the story is that running won’t save you from becoming bear toilet tissue.
November 5th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Hey good luck trying to qualify. In the back of my mind I think it would be cool to qualify for Boston. I just ran my first marathon in 4:30 so I guess I have A LOT of work to do.
November 6th, 2006 at 8:31 am
Rick,
Chin up. My first marathon was 4:49:45.
– Dean