To qualify for the Boston Marathon.
To Qualify Boston…
Running in and completing the Boston Marathon is one of the big brass rings of any endurance athlete. In order to accomplish this task, one must run in a qualifying marathon and finish within a set goal time which is based on your age group. I am in the 40-44 mens age group. Up to and including the 2012 Boston Marathon, the time I had to beat was 3:20:59. I rounded this up to a 3:19 to give myself a 1:59 cushion. This is the time I was working toward. I am capable of running 26.2 miles in 3:19.
There has been a rule change and a qualifying time change. The rule change was the cut off of the seconds in qualifying times. If you needed a 3:20, and you ran a 3:20:01, you were over and did not qualify. That’s not a real big deal, but it did cut my cushion almost in half. Then they changed the qualifying times for the 2013 Marathon forward. For my age group, I now have to run under 3:15:00. This means I have to run a 3:13 in order to give myself the same cushion I had before.
Trimming 6 minutes will be challenging.
November 19, 2011 at 6:41 am
Well, I think it is very impressive that you run marathons…3:19 or 13:19. Way to aim high and take it on, Ronin
November 19, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Yes, the time change is a big one, but still something you can achieve – I’m positive of it!! You and I both just have to work on keeping from getting injured