This morning I submitted my application for acceptance into the 2015 Boston Marathon.
As you might know, priority is given to the runners who qualified with the most time to spare: those who met the qualifying standard by age and gender by 20 minutes or more, then 10 minutes or more, then 5 minutes or more. The Boston Athletic Association posted an update this morning after registration closed for those fastest qualifiers last week:
Approximately 16,000 application submissions from the fastest among all qualifiers were submitted during the first week of registration (September 8-13). At the conclusion of the next phase of registration, the B.A.A. will accept up to 8,000 additional qualifiers.
So today the field opened up for 8,000 additional qualifiers from the group of runners like me who met the qualifying standard by age and gender by less than five minutes. However, these entries are not accepted on a first-come, first-served basis; priority is given among these entries for those who qualified by the largest margin (meaning that someone who qualified with 35 seconds to spare gets priority over me and my 34 precious seconds). Registration remains open for this group through Wednesday September 17 at 5 p.m. ET. (and then re-opens later to all qualifiers if spots still remain.)
Now the waiting begins. The email confirmation of my application stated that acceptances for this latest group of entries will be sent out in October, although I suspect we might hear sooner than that. I think chances are good that all of us “squeakers” will get accepted, but I’m not considering it a done deal by any means.
In the meantime I am taking time to celebrate my marathon finish time, 3:44:26, whether or not it is fast enough to get me accepted into the 2015 Boston Marathon. I realized that in my stupor in the days after the race I didn’t even acknowledge the fact that 3:44:26 is a personal record for me by 8 minutes and 16 seconds! That is pretty significant, even if it only boils down to 18-19 seconds faster per mile over the 26.2 miles. For someone like me who did not start running until she was staring down 40 years of age, and was 4 days shy of 43 years of age on race day, it’s a big deal to run 26.2 miles at 7 miles per hour. Even now, after having gone the distance at that pace, I can hardly even imagine setting the treadmill for 7.0 and running for 3 hours and 44 minutes and change. You know, the other day I was talking to a friend who is training for his first full marathon coming up this October in Long Beach. He said he finally understood the appeal of marathon running: the amazing sense of satisfaction you can achieve by challenging yourself to do something you couldn’t have done a year ago or even a month ago. It’s definitely worth celebrating.
Congratulations and I hope you get in!
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Thanks Sandy! I am anxious to find out!
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Good luck!! Your BQ time is an amazing achievement, whether you’ll end up running Boston or not. If you’re not accepted for 2015, do you get priority in 2016? Will you be in a different age group by then and your time has a bigger margin??
In our corner, Hood to Coast application time is approaching, and we’ll find out in November if our team will run again. HTC application is entirely lottery, unless you placed top six in your team category or are a major fundraiser.
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If I do not get in this year that does not give me extra priority next year. I would need to qualify again in a different race and again it would come down to priority by that qualifying time. The good news is that I move up to a new age group after next September, when I would be 45 for the 2017 Boston Marathon and the standard goes up by 10 minutes to 3:55. Good luck with your HTC lottery entry!
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Good luck – I hope you get in because I know how hard you worked. However, I’m glad that you are also looking at the fact that you also have a new PR – such a big deal!!!
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Thanks Kim! I’m really happy about the PR. I had been able to improve my marathon time 5 minutes from my first marathon to my 2nd, and 5 minutes from my second to my third. So to chop 8 minutes off for the fourth was indeed a big deal!
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Qualifying (and your resulting, huge PR) is a BIG DEAL. Getting into Boston is truly just an added bonus. That having been said, I’ll cross my toes for you.
My fingers are (selfishly) busy being crossed for my own registration. 😉
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You are right Jen — getting into Boston is a bonus. It’s been the goal all along just to qualify. The race is expensive and the flight/hotel would be too — and my husband and kids want to join me. I’d be really lucky if it all works out but I am very very happy to have qualified at all. And thanks for those crossed toes — I’ll keep mine crossed for you in return!
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I’m a squeaker too. I missed the five minute or faster registration wave by one second! Really though, I’m just so happy that I even qualified. It was such a huge goal and one that I worked really hard to achieve. I’m sure you feel the same. Hoping you hear good news!!
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Congrats on your BQ and such an impressive finishing time! It seems certain you will get in — and you sure earned it!
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Awe, thanks! It was a surprise to me! 🙂 I never imagined I’d beat my qualifying time by nearly 5 minutes!!
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