Boston Marathon Day - Oh How I Both Loathe and Respect you....

I have completed 6 marathons to date... with a PR (personal record) of 4.27.12.  I have consistently TRIED to improve my time, but as you all know from THIS lovely post, 1/3 of my marathons have been cancelled due to extreme heat.  Of the other four, three of them have hovered within 8 minutes of each other in my finishing time, and the other one I was preggers with twins and had to slow down the last 6-8 miles.  So....lucky may be my middle name :)  Anyway, TODAY - and just a few minutes ago - the 115th of the Boston Marathon began!  If this is new to you - let me explain to you a little bit about Boston. 

Boston is THE marathon in the world of running.  Not really for the course, free giveaways, or tropical setting (which seems to be some of my personal criteria when choosing my next destination!), but the stature and glamour of actually saying 'Yes, I ran Boston'.... or 'I've just QUALIFIED for Boston'.  Really, you are almost as cool to be able to qualify, as to actually make it there.

Over the course of the last year, I have started going to work about a half hour earlier to adjust my schedule a little bit.  On that early train in the morning, are a husband and wife who are in THE BEST shape you could imagine.  And what do they wear to work everyday you might ask? 
Running shoes AND Boston Marathon jackets!  In the running community, that Boston Jacket is the green jacket of the masters.  I almost side-step to let them thru in the morning....slightly bow at their presence and secretly want to either:

    a) Trip Them
or
    b) Walk with them and get their 'secret'.

You know...the 'secret'.  How do you run so fast, and how are you in this amazing shape?  I already know the answer - Of course though, like anyone looking for that magic diet and weight loss strategy - you keep searching for that magic pill....the one that does all those things with no effort, resulting in a reduced PR that shaves about an hour off your time, right?!?  My good friend Dave is currently training for a marathon in 3 weeks which he hopes will be a PR to qualify him for Boston.  I'm so proud of him, improving his time fantastically to be in contention to make that happen.  Dave is the type of guy that is great to catch up with and snag a beer with and chat about our kids, cool races, recent injuries, and fun engineering factoids. BUT, if he qualifies for Boston, I'm sure I'll be considering both Options A and B above for him too :)

exercise...blah blah blah....run more miles....blah blah blah... eat great....blah blah blah

Anyway, for those in the running community, you might ask - WHY is this so important and noble to some mid-level runner like me?!?  (well....first let me pat myself on the back.  Last week after the Go! St. Louis Marathon, there was a comment on the Go! St. Louis Facebook Page that was ranting about the race, the day before, where runners were forced to turn around at mile 10 due to the heat/wind - and the ELITE runners were allowed to proceed.  Remember, I finished in 4:45 and was called ELITE....WOO HOO! - don't get me wrong, I'll TAKE IT, but maybe it's not 100% accurate :))  Boston is the marathon for all elite runners, world wide.  You must have a sufficient qualifying time at another marathon just to register for the Boston Race...within a certain preceding time period.    I think my brother said it best after my first marathon in Chicago in 2004 (where my time was 4:29:16) -

Wow....you only need to shave off an hour to go to Boston!

Uhhh... he was right :(    Here is a snippet from the Tips4Running.com website....a great resource for any of you looking into starting the running insanity:

Boston Marathon Qualifying Times

Below are the Boston Marathon qualifying times for 2011, 2012 and 2013. There are only 25,000 entries allowed to run the race each year.

Minimum Boston Marathon Qualifying Times 2012

Age - - - - - Men - - - - - Women
18-34 - 3hrs 10min - 3hrs 40min35-39 - 3hrs 15min - 3hrs 45min
40-44 - 3hrs 20min - 3hrs 50min
45-49 - 3hrs 30min - 4hrs 00min
50-54 - 3hrs 35min - 4hrs 05min
55-59 - 3hrs 45min - 4hrs 15min
60-64 - 4hrs 00min - 4hrs 30min
65-69 - 4hrs 15min - 4hrs 45min
70-74 - 4hrs 30min - 5hrs 00min
75-79 - 4hrs 45min - 5hrs 15min
80&up - 5hrs 00min - 5hrs 30min

The 2012 registration process allows the faster runners to register first. Here are the details. Make sure you check your age and gender category.
Week One of Registration
Sep. 12, 2011 - Qualifiers 20 minutes or under the qualifying times listed above.
Sep. 14, 2011 - Qualifiers 10 minutes or under.
Sep. 16, 2011 - Qualifiers 5 minutes or under.
Week Two of Registration If necessary
Registration will close if the field fills up after September 16th. If there are still spots available on Sep. 19th, all qualifiers can register.

The 2013 Boston Marathon will be even more difficult to qualify for. All of the age and gender categories will be five minutes faster.

(Click Here for a VIDEO explaining more on this from the Boston Athletic Association)

So....I digress.  IF I don't shave an hour off this year in my marathon time, I'll ALSO have to shave off another 5 minutes to just 'qualify'.  But, because of the rapid registration that the race has experienced in the last two years, I will REALLY need to optimally shave another 20 minutes on top of that, off my PR, to run.  So - let's think about this.  I run a 4:27:12 as my PR....to qualify in 2013, I need to optimally run the 2011 Chicago Marathon in 3:35 minimum, or 3:20 to guarantee myself a slot, right?!?

OK, depression is sinking in.  Maybe 2012 and 2013 aren't my years, right?!?  :)  I have all the excuses for why my pace hasn't progressed...asthma....not enough miles under my belt each week (which I only put that blame on my hubby and kids for not allowing me to run full time, but have this 'job thingy' and 'raise the kids' thingy to distract me from miles)....and blah, blah, blah....everything else really. 

Dawn and Erin understand perfectly well why we are all in this same situation.  Maybe we are at the pace we are because we ALWAYS get the free beer at the end of each race (and in the last half and full marathons I have run this spring, I stopped both 75% thru the race and slammed a PBR and a Stag in both Miami and St. Louis offered to me by the best spectators ever).  So, wait, maybe Boston isn't for me.  Maybe I'm not the 'Boston Type'.  If being the Boston Type means sacrificing beer races and cooler races that are smaller than the bigger ones because of the great goodie bag they offer, I'm ok with that.  Really!

OK...now that I'm 'ok' again with being the 4:30, beer-drinking South Side runner that I am, I just remembered about the COOLEST race I'm doing this summer.  On June 18th , me and my BF running bud are doing the Warrior Dash in Channahon! 

  


YES!  MUD AND FIRE.  Ok, for those of you who thought I was over the 'deep end' in running, I might have to agree with you on this one.  All I know, is we have to dress up like Warriors....We have to bring shoes and clothes that will be thrown away at the end, or lost during the race....and yes, there will be beer!

So, am I ok with NOT having the Boston Jacket in my wardrobe (at least till I can quality at the age of 60)...Yes!  Because....

Green Jacket, Gold Jacket, Who Gives a Shit!