Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Loophole

So there's a bit of a loophole.

Now, I could be way off here, so correct me if I'm wrong. But I just figured out that if you run a marathon after September 20th, you can qualify to run Boston for the next two years. And in the next two years, if I turn 35, then my qualifying time goes down.

I'll be 35 in 2012. (Gulp. How did that happen?)

So, when I run Cleveland, my qualifying time is a 3:40. But, if I run an October race, my qualifying time is raised to 3:45, even though I'm not 35 in October 2011.

Five months for five minutes.

That's a BIG five minutes.

You know I'm going to go for it in May--I mean, that is without question. But I feel like a 3:45 five months later is sort of cheating...even though it's not. I mean, that's the policy, and that means it's totally legit. But I still feel like I should be able to do the 3:40 if I'm NOT 35. You know?

Whatever. I'm gonna go for it anyway. Go hard or go home, right? It's going to hurt either way, and I'm not patient enough to wait until October.

4 comments:

Jennifer P said...

You would be disappointed in yourself if you didn't try sooner and hit the :40. YOU CAN DO IT!

And we'll be 35 at the same time and I am sure I will be happy to his 4:15 by that time.

Christi said...

All I can say is good luck!

Anonymous said...

GO for it...it's my one regret, that I didn't go to Boston when I could have.
(Maybe still...) But, yea, do it!

Dan D. said...

You may want to double check (because I'm known to be forgetful), but when I was trying to qualify last year I researched this as well. I was under the impression it was the age you were at the race you qualified in. Not so. It is the age you WILL BE in the year you run Boston. And then you have 18 months (I think) to use that qualifying time, which translates into the next 2 Bostons if you qualify in a fall race. So it looks like you just need that 3:45 to make it in. But of course you should aim to hit that 3:40! You can do it!

It took me three attempts before qualifying in C-bus last year. We went to Boston this year and it was AMAZING! I hope to get back there again some day.