Best of luck to all those running the Boston Marathon today, I know that there are a number of fellow running bloggers who are running it but I’m not going to attempt to list them here because I’d probably miss some and wind up hurting people’s feelings and the last thing I need right now is to be apologizing profusely and trying to mend broken fences with the likes of Kara Goucher.In honor of those running today I’m going to be dropping my r’s, overusing the adjective ‘wicked’ and adding a ‘y’ to the end of everyone’s name. “I just put that repaht on yah desk Scotty, it was wicked hahd so I hope you appreciate it.” To really make your Boston accent authentic you’re also going to have to curse every 3rd or 4th word for no apparent reason.
I’m going to share a little secret with you; running Boston is not something that has ever appealed to me. I’ll tell you why since I doubt that anyone that’s actually running Boston is stopping by here today to see what I’ve got to say. First of all to qualify for Boston I’d have to get significantly faster, this isn’t the part that doesn’t appeal to me, I would love to be fast enough to BQ. However, once I got to be fast enough for Boston why would I want to go run a tough marathon course where I was practically guaranteed to be one of the slowest runners there? (By virtue of just barely qualifying.) If I put in all the work to get that fast, I’m going to go run one of the flat Rock ‘n’ Roll marathons with thousands of people slower than me so that I can finish in the top 30 - 40% as opposed to finishing in the 90th percentile as I imagine I would in Boston.
Don’t get me wrong, I can definitely see the draw of running a prestigious marathon like Boston, I just don’t think it’s for me. Anyway, don’t spend any more of your time today reading my wicked sahcastic remahks, head on over to baa.org to follow the live commentary of the race and check out the links to watch it live online.
And again, best of luck to all the
I agree! While I'd love to say I want to BQ, I don't think it will ever happen. I too, would have to significantly increase my pace, and I really have no desire to work that hard!
ReplyDeleteI'm all about cheering on the Boston runners, I just won't be one of them!
I see your point.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think I'd complain about being one of the slowest Boston qualifiers. Besides, aren't there lots of charity runners/walkers? Those people in the PBS documentary seemed pretty slow.
The marathon is today? I knew the Sox played early, but I didn't know there was a race. Huh.
ReplyDeleteIsn't dis fackin race gettin in da way of yah Sawx game?
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I'm saying this, but I totally agree with you, Vanilla.
ReplyDeleteNow I need to go shower to rid myself of this horrid feeling...
If I put in all the work to get that fast, I’m going to go run one of the flat Rock ‘n’ Roll marathons with thousands of people slower than me so that I can finish in the top 30 - 40% as opposed to finishing in the 90th percentile as I imagine I would in Boston.Been following your blog a little while, and just had to peep in and say this is soo funny, and, come to think of it, makes complete sense. haha
ReplyDeleteoops, that didn't format right, but anyhow ...
ReplyDeleteYour point is exactly what RW was discussing in their last issue: For many runners, they can't run their BQ time at Boston. Which would be demoralizing.
ReplyDeleteI think the amount of charity runners is close to 40%. Also, only 38% of runners who run Boston, actually obtain a BQ while running Boston, odd stat.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, the BQ is the achievement, and the Boston Marathon is the reward. If I'm ever lucky enough to BQ, I would definitely run Boston in like 5:30 just to enjoy the whole experience. Then I would retire from marathons forever.
ReplyDeleteAt your age, if you qualified for Boston and were able to run, say, only 10-15 minutes slower overall in the actual race you'd still be in the top 20%...different age qualifications, charity runners, etc.
ReplyDeleteBut I understand the spirit of the post.
@Nitmos - Stop bringing facts and logic into my comments section. I don't bring them to your comments section of your blog!
ReplyDeleteSo Bostonian. It was a great day for Ryan and Kara though I was hoping they would both have held on.
ReplyDeleteI would like to qualify, just to say I could run Boston if I wanted to. However, I have no desire to run the Boston Marathon - even if I didn't have to BQ.
ReplyDeleteBoston Marathon Results 2009Average Finish Time: 3:49:34 | STD: 0:37:14
ReplyDeleteLook at that Vanilla, if you trained properly you could make the first standard deviation before the bell curve really started to slope!