Monday, September 26, 2011

2012 Boston Marathon, Here I Come!!!



Shortly after my students left for the day, the email came. I'm confirmed for the 2012 Boston Marathon! Even though it looked like my chances of getting were very good despite being a week two registrant, it was still a relief to see it was officially official. Stoked to be running Boston again.

The cut-off times for week two folks shaped up like this (taken from the BAA):

2012 Mens Qualifying Performances and Accepted Times

AGE GROUPSTANDARD ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATIONQUALIFICATION TIMES ACCEPTED THROUGH AND INCLUDING
18-343hrs 10min3hrs 08min 46sec
35-393hrs 15min3hrs 13min 46sec
40-443hrs 20min3hrs 18min 46sec
45-493hrs 30min3hrs 28min 46sec
50-543hrs 35min3hrs 33min 46sec
55-593hrs 45min3hrs 43min 46sec
60-644hrs 00min3hrs 58min 46sec
65-694hrs 15min4hrs 13min 46sec
70-744hrs 30min4hrs 28min 46sec
75-794hrs 45min4hrs 43min 46sec
80 and over5hrs 00min4hrs 58min 46sec

2012 Womens Qualifying Performances and Accepted Times

AGE GROUPSTANDARD ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATIONQUALIFICATION TIMES  ACCEPTED THROUGH AND INCLUDING
18-343hrs 40min3hrs 38min 46sec
35-393hrs 45min3hrs 43min 46sec
40-443hrs 50min3hrs 48min 46sec
45-494hrs 00min3hrs 58min 46sec
50-544hrs 05min4hrs 03min 46sec
55-594hrs 15min4hrs 13min 46sec
60-644hrs 30min4hrs 28min 46sec
65-694hrs 45min4hrs 43min 46sec
70-745hrs 00min4hrs 58min 46sec
75-795hrs 15min5hrs 13min 46sec
80 and over5hrs 30min5hrs 28min 46sec


It turns out I had a relatively good cushion with my 3:12:41 time at Boston last April (35-39 age group). That's a good thing, as my BQ time at the MDI Marathon last year of 3:14:33 would not have been enough for this year (the 2010 MDI Marathon times could have been used for the 2012 Boston Marathon as well since they fit in the overlap window).

I'm really excited to be in it again. Really excited. I had a blast last year and am really looking forward to doing it again. It's an impressive event, and I'm honored that I qualified again and can't wait to try to do even better this year.

As excited as I am, I'm also pretty damn bummed for some friends and acquaintances who didn't get in. They worked their butts off and a few of them didn't make the cut by mere seconds. Even the tweets from folks I don't know (hashtag is #bostonmarathon) expressing their disappointment at not getting in are pretty heartbreaking to read.

But despite the joy or sadness, it sounds like most agree the new rolling registration system is very fair and I've yet to read of any real complaints. Hats off to the Boston Athletic Association for coming up with a unique system that is fair and apparently works really well, both for them and the runners. They hit a home run (something the Red Sox could use a few more of this month).

Happy running!

2 comments:

middle.professor said...

Congratulations Jamie - that is awesome. Only 1m15s faster than old time but I guess that is a huge 1m15s!

RunSueRun said...

Yippee Jamie! That's awesome. Really happy for you. :)