The Boston Athletic Association finally came out with it: getting into the Boston Marathon is now much harder. You can read a full explanation of how they did it here. In this post, I'll just stick with how it will affect me.
The time standard for getting into the Boston Marathon in 2012 (the first year I'd theoretically have a shot) won't change. It remains 3 hours 45 minutes for a 35-39 year-old woman. BUT they have introduced a rolling entry process that gives first dibs to people who beat their standard by 20 minutes. So to be allowed to sign up on the first and second day of registration for this race (Sept. 12 and 13 of this year), I would have to run (hold your breath) a marathon in 3 hours 25 minutes, which amounts to 7:49 per mile. To be allowed to register on the third and fourth day (starting Sept. 14), I would have to beat my standard by 10 minutes, or run the race at 8:12/mile. If the Boston Marathon still hasn't filled at that point, on Sept. 16, I would be allowed to register IF I ran a 3:40, or 8:23/mile (five minutes faster than my standard). And only if the race hadn't filled in one of those earlier stages would I be allowed to try to register with any time between 3:40 and 3:45.
For the 2013 running of Boston, the plot thickens further. In addition to keeping the rolling registration process, all the time standards for both sexes and all age groups will get 5 minutes harder. Which means that even as a 40-year-old I will still be shooting for 3:45 or better.
When I first read this, sitting at the quiet reference desk with the spring-like morning sun shining through the skylights, it took my breath away. But ever since hearing that they were going to be doing *something* with the standards, I've known that it certainly wasn't going to get easier. And now that I know exactly *how* it's gotten harder, I can adjust my game plan.
Here's what I've come up with so far--and there are some questions in here so if anyone out there has an opinion please voice it!
1) I think it's safe to say that the 2012 Boston Marathon is out of reach. It was probably never in reach anyway--my original goal for this year's marathon was merely to beat four hours--but even if a miracle occurred and I ran a qualifying time in October, the new registration window will have closed by the time I hit the starting line.
Still, I'm tempted to ramp up my timetable and try to get a marathon in before Sept. 12. Louis Pasteur said, "Chance favors only the prepared mind." It probably favors the prepared body as well. What do you think? Should I try to find an early September marathon? At worst I'd be beginning a new training cycle in the fall--which is a great time to train anyway.
2) In the likely event that it's 2013 I'm shooting for, I'd choose a winter marathon with a reputation for speed (perhaps a return to Houston, where I ran my first one). And after that, I'd just keep entering marathons as needed until registration for the 2013 race opens on Sept. 10 of next year.
3) I need to remember that even if I don't actually get into the race, the title of this blog is BQby40, not BostonMarathonby40. This is a key distinction given the new registration process. It means that if I run a 3:45 or better, I will have met my goal, regardless of whether there were enough faster people to trump me in the queue to sign up. Semantics? Yes. But correct semantics!
4) Whether or not I hit 3:45 by my 40th birthday, I will move on at that point. Perhaps in that event I will be doing a blog again in twenty years with the title BQby60. But once I turn forty, I know I'll want to put Boston to rest for a while and accomplish some other things with my running.
One thing I will never do is run the Boston Marathon without qualifying. It seems to me there should be some things that are sacred. Even if this training proves only that I don't have it in me to run that fast, hopefully it will give me a deeper appreciation of those who do.
I would love to hear from everyone about this new wrinkle, whether you have advice for me or are sharing your own stories and impressions. Those of you who recently qualified, for instance, but didn't get into the 2011 race...I can only imagine how you must be affected.
Tomorrow I have the first run in my program in weeks where I have permission to run slow and easy. It seems appropriate somehow!
Showing posts with label Boston qualifying standards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boston qualifying standards. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, October 25, 2010
What I'm Up Against
People often describe the Boston Marathon as the Olympics for amateurs. I can't remember where I first heard that, but it's apt. Only about 10% of female marathon finishers and 10.7% of male ones qualify, according to another blogging runner's estimate.
To qualify, you have to run a marathon within the 18 months ahead of your target Boston date and beat the time standard established by the marathon's parent organization, the Boston Athletic Association, for your age group on the date of your target Boston (you get all that???). If I want to qualify for my current age group, 35 to 39 years old, I must meet or beat 3 hours 45 minutes. To qualify for the next oldest age group, 40 to 44, I must meet or beat 3 hours 50 minutes. In both cases, that's around a full 30 minutes, or about a minute a mile, faster than my best time set five years ago in New York. And according to one calculator, my recent half-marathon time predicts a 4 hour 19 minute marathon. Obviously *that* won't cut the mustard!
As if all that's not tough enough, there has been much publicity lately, some of it in my old employer, the Wall Street Journal, about the women's qualifying standards being too lenient compared to those for men. So it may get tougher before all's said and done.
And that's just the objective stuff!
The subjective stuff--personal issues of mine--could fill a book, a long and whiney book that I hope never to write. I'll just summarize it here, and expect to return to some of it in later posts (hopefully with "I came, I saw, I conquered" stories).
1. I am lazy and self-indulgent! I like running, but it's safe to say that I like sleeping more, while eating (especially counterproductive food like Reeses Peanut Butter Cups) goes neck-and-neck with running in every "how I like to spend my time" contest. Luckily, wanting and needing lots of sleep is good for a marathoner. The food thing...not so much, but I'll address that in another post down the road.
2. I have other more immediate responsibilities. I have two small children who, I'm happy to say, no longer cry when I leave for a run and actually root for my running, but also do inconvenient things like get sick, interfering with training schedules and that key 8 hours of nightly sleep. I also have a job where--get this!--I'm expected to show up at certain times and stay for a certain amount of time (30 hours a week, to quantify). I realize having both children I love and a job I like and that requires no overtime makes me extremely lucky. But those things do mean I can't always go spend three hours running when that's what needs to be done for my goal.
3. I lack grit. This probably goes along with being lazy, and it's true of lots of areas of my life. What does this mean? In the case of running, it means there has been many a race where I gave in to the negative voices in my head ("your legs are dead; slow down;" "the headache is setting in; you didn't drink enough water; it's over now;" "these hills are huge") rather than doing what the elites do: call upon some inner strength to power them past the tough times. Grit is something I know I *must* develop if I am to succeed in getting past all the other stuff above, the objective and the subjective things. And while I find many comparisons between running and life cheesy, I do think that developing some grit will serve me well in other times and places (see above about sick children and lack of sleep!).
So that's what I'm up against.
Next post: what I've got going for me. Fortunately it's not nothing. :^)
To qualify, you have to run a marathon within the 18 months ahead of your target Boston date and beat the time standard established by the marathon's parent organization, the Boston Athletic Association, for your age group on the date of your target Boston (you get all that???). If I want to qualify for my current age group, 35 to 39 years old, I must meet or beat 3 hours 45 minutes. To qualify for the next oldest age group, 40 to 44, I must meet or beat 3 hours 50 minutes. In both cases, that's around a full 30 minutes, or about a minute a mile, faster than my best time set five years ago in New York. And according to one calculator, my recent half-marathon time predicts a 4 hour 19 minute marathon. Obviously *that* won't cut the mustard!
As if all that's not tough enough, there has been much publicity lately, some of it in my old employer, the Wall Street Journal, about the women's qualifying standards being too lenient compared to those for men. So it may get tougher before all's said and done.
And that's just the objective stuff!
The subjective stuff--personal issues of mine--could fill a book, a long and whiney book that I hope never to write. I'll just summarize it here, and expect to return to some of it in later posts (hopefully with "I came, I saw, I conquered" stories).
1. I am lazy and self-indulgent! I like running, but it's safe to say that I like sleeping more, while eating (especially counterproductive food like Reeses Peanut Butter Cups) goes neck-and-neck with running in every "how I like to spend my time" contest. Luckily, wanting and needing lots of sleep is good for a marathoner. The food thing...not so much, but I'll address that in another post down the road.
2. I have other more immediate responsibilities. I have two small children who, I'm happy to say, no longer cry when I leave for a run and actually root for my running, but also do inconvenient things like get sick, interfering with training schedules and that key 8 hours of nightly sleep. I also have a job where--get this!--I'm expected to show up at certain times and stay for a certain amount of time (30 hours a week, to quantify). I realize having both children I love and a job I like and that requires no overtime makes me extremely lucky. But those things do mean I can't always go spend three hours running when that's what needs to be done for my goal.
3. I lack grit. This probably goes along with being lazy, and it's true of lots of areas of my life. What does this mean? In the case of running, it means there has been many a race where I gave in to the negative voices in my head ("your legs are dead; slow down;" "the headache is setting in; you didn't drink enough water; it's over now;" "these hills are huge") rather than doing what the elites do: call upon some inner strength to power them past the tough times. Grit is something I know I *must* develop if I am to succeed in getting past all the other stuff above, the objective and the subjective things. And while I find many comparisons between running and life cheesy, I do think that developing some grit will serve me well in other times and places (see above about sick children and lack of sleep!).
So that's what I'm up against.
Next post: what I've got going for me. Fortunately it's not nothing. :^)
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