Bib# 19428, Wave 3, Corral 2..all set for The (Boston) marathon experience

Arriving at Connecticut, US with just about 2 weeks( and 5 easy training runs)  to go for the 118th edition of the Boston Marathon marks the beginning of  the end  of the journey that started nearly 3 years ago. Qualifying and running in Boston was an aspiration ever since I did my first sub 4 hour marathon  at the Sun Trust National Marathon in March 2009. However, I pretty much gave up the on this goal  after the Feb 2011 announcement tightening the qualifying standards by 5 minutes from 2012 onwards as I now needed 3:40 instead of 3:45 to qualify in the 55-59 years age group.  But then the PB sub 46 minute finish  at TCS open 10K in June 2011 and the interaction with coach and author Bill Pierce at a customised  FIRST running retreat in Greenville, SC in July 2011 gave me confidence that with focus and structured training I might be able to get there. Subsequently my main goal for 2012 was to qualify for Boston 2014 and I trained and picked my events accordingly.  I squeaked to a BQ by 3 seconds  at MHRM in Ocotber 2012 and managed to beat my BQ by 2 mins 40 seconds at SCMM 2013. In September 2013 this enabled me to get an entry into the 2014 edition of the  race - after a tense waiting period of  over 2 weeks after the registration opened. And now over 6 months later I am maha excited to be on the verge of running my 41st FM (including 7 ultras)  in the world's oldest and most hallowed marathon event and achieving one of my long term running goals!!

 Whether to give it all and race at Boston or simply soak in the experience and the ambiance and enjoy the 'once in a life time' event is now the dilemma that I am brooding over. Reflecting on my future running goals , while this may not be the ONLY time I run Boston  I don't expect to run it many times . I may do it  a couple of more times if I manage to qualify -   Boston and Big Sur marathon in the same year(2016?) and then maybe once in my 60s(2019?).  The 2013-14 running season has not been a great one for me -  a tear in the right calf muscle just before the TCS 10K in May resulted in a below par start to the season.  Post that race I took some time off and trained 10 weeks for the Airtel Hyderabad marathon. However, the race on 25th August did not go too well and I finished in 3:46:20 -  a good 10 minutes + slower than my target time. While I did well at the 7th Bangalore ultra I started suffering from severe pain in left glutes and calf and numbness in my left sole during my long runs while training for SCMM 2014.  As a result I missed my PB by  9 minutes in the race in January.  And the training for Boston 2014 which started a couple of weeks after Mumbai(11 weeks training instead o 16 weeks) has been a mixed bag. Due to the stress with the left  glutes, hamstrings and calf and numbness in the left front sole ( now pretty much diagnosed as piriformis syndrome  - more details in a future post)  - the training runs have been inconsistent - falling short of  the timing goal for at least one of the 3 workouts( intervals, tempo, long run)  in most weeks. Though some specific stretches 
(Neural flossing) and strengthening exercises (which I restarted at Manipal hospital from February) helped me feel better after the workout the pain/stress still appears  during a moderately hard run and the glutes continue to hurt when sitting for quite some time after a workout. I have been hesitant to push myself in the training runs  and risk further aggravating the injury.  Also more than normal amount of travel in February and March has impacted my training. The second half of March was specially disruptive with travel to Tirunelveli, Chennai and Pune in a space of 10 days. Less intense training and frequent eating out coupled with a glass or two of wine (I normally avoid alcoholic drinks completely in the last 6 weeks leading up to a race )has resulted in  my weight  increasing by 3 Kgs+ (from optimal race weight of 55 to about 58). Therefore not being in the best of shape means it is easier to decide not to push hard and race at Boston and instead enjoy the spectator support and the historic course.  I will most likely carry my phone to take pictures along the way - something I do only in events that I am NOT racing in. 

The only time I have run a large marathon before I did not have a great timing though I had a fantastic experience. The London marathon in April 2007 was my slowest ever(4:47:56). Even if I were in a better shape and completely injury free this race looks to be quite challenging due to several other factors.  Being in Wave 3/Corral 2 my race start time is 11am. To get to the athletes village in Hopkinton near the start area between 9 and 930 am  I will need to take a bus from Boston between 8 and 830am. This means I will need to leave Bedford (where I will be staying) around 7am.  So not sure what I should eat and when. Some food and beverages is likely to be available at the Athletes village. I typically eat bananas and some nuts 1 to 2 hours before the race start soon after waking up. In this case I would be up at least 5 hours before the start of my race which will be a new factor to contend with. Also, the comfort level during the 1 hour +  wait at the athletes village will depend very much on the weather - I am of course rooting for dry and warm ( or not too cold) conditions. Due to the unfortunate incident in Boston 2013 understandably security has been tightened up for this year's race. So there will be no baggage check-in allowed at the start point in Hopkinton. One has to check in gear in the transparent bag provided for the purpose (in the expo at the time of bib pick-up) before boarding the bus in Boston. This means depending on the weather one may need to discard some additional layers before starting the race. And crazy runners in this country are actually shopping specifically for things to wear and discard on race morning. 

BAA has been sending frequent mailers to participants for the last few weeks explaining the security policy, getting to the start area, the waves/corrals etc. All of this information is summarised here. The weather on race day will be another crucial factor for my performance. Detailed analysis of past race day weather can be found at Boston Marathon Weather History and Impact on Results and Boston Marathon Weather: Not as Crazy as You Think.  Personally, cold weather does not work well for me and I prefer temperatures around 15C . Depending on the weather one will need to decide what combination of half-sleeve and/or full-sleeve shirt to wear. As of now the weather forecast for 21st April is  sunny with high of 11 C and low of 8 C which, though not too bad,  is on the colder side  for me. If this forecast stays then I will  need to run in full sleeves and also wear gloves. 

The race itself is likely to be quite fast paced as most of the 36000+ runners have come through the BQ route(others coming through charity or running clubs).  The corral cut-off times for this year's race depicted below  shows how the race has become progressively faster over the years( With my qualifying time I would have been in wave 2/corral 8 in 2013  instead of the wave 3/corral 2). I am pretty much in the middle of the pack with over 19000 runners ahead of me and some 17000 or so behind me.

The race route passing through 8 towns and cities(Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, Boston) is not an easy one. The first 15 miles are mostly flat/rolling hills after a steep drop in the 1st mile. From mile 15 onwards one is going to be climbing and dropping for the next 9 miles. None of these hills ,up or down, seems to be a killer on its own. However, the cumulative effect can be quite devastating if one is not careful. I am for sure not a strong hill runner. The hill in Newton after mile 16 is considered by many to be the toughest one.Mile 19 has another tough hill and then the famous Heartbreak hill at mile 20. Miles 21,22 and 23 have several downhill stretches some of them quite steep that could batter the quads. Though I have been training for a  MP of 8:17/mile(for a sub 3:38 finish) I am unsure of my race strategy as of now. Given the tough last 10 miles I am looking at a conservative start to hit mile 15 in about 2:08 at an average pace of 8:30 per mile and then try and keep an average pace of 9 per mile for the remaining 11 miles to finish under 3:50. I am hoping this will be my worst case time and if the first half goes well and if I hit the half way point in around 1:48 and feel energetic then I will probably skip taking pictures(even with the Wellesley girls - something strongly recommended by a dear fellow BHUKMP runner ) and push for  a sub 3:45 finish. I am not going to finalise this till race day morning based on the weather and how I feel at the athletes village.

Finally, would  like to conclude this post with kudos to the runners who have done over 25 consecutive Boston marathons;  Every race, specially the large ones, have a number of runners on a streak - but 25+ consecutive Boston marathons needs really special mental and physical endurance!!

Boston 2014 Registration Process

The dynamics for Boston 2014 changed due to the bomb blasts at the finish line of Boston 2013. The interest among runners to qualify and run in Boston 2014 went up significantly. Many runners who were not intending to run Boston 2014 were now motivated to show solidarity with BAA, city of Boston  and the running movement  in general. As a result the number of registrations for  marathons in the US between May and September saw a definite uptick On May 16th B.A.A. announced  that the 5,633 official entrants who had passed the halfway point but were unable to finish will be guaranteed entry into next year's marathon. As per their press release these entrants would not need to qualify again but will need to pay the  registration fee.(These runners were eventually invited to register between August 1 and August 29th - nearly 5000 of them registered). After some speculation BAA finally announced an increase of the field size by 9000 from 27,000 to 36,000 runners. Nevertheless  there was a lot of discussion whether all BQ runners would get in. Here's another report on this. Once the registrations opened on September 9th there were discussions on many forums as to the number of spots that would be left for the 2nd week (for all BQ runners) and where the cut-off would be as it was pretty much certain that even with the increased field size not all runners would get in. 

Finally notifications to the runners who registered during the week of September 16th were sent out on September 25th and it turned out that the cut-off was BQ- 1:38 and unfortunately 2976 runners who BQ'ed and registered did not make it.

There was also a lot of discussion as to why the number of slots for qualifiers was only 500 when the field size was increased by 9000. The thinking was that maybe the no. of charity slots was increased by a large number which of course did not go well with the BQ'ed runners who had applied for registration. BAA clarified that this was not the case. 

The following from the BAA website provides details of the applications received and the cut-offs by category :

Registration for runners who met the B.A.A.’s Qualifying Standards for the 2014 Boston Marathon began on Monday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m. ET using a “rolling admission” schedule and continued through Saturday, September 14 at 10:00 p.m. ET. Registration re-opened on Monday, September 16 at 10:00 a.m. and application submissions were received through Friday, September 20 at 5:00 p.m. ET.

• 25,654 applications were received during the two weeks of registration (September 9, 2013 through September 20, 2013).
• 22,679 applicants have been accepted or are in the process of being accepted, pending verification of their qualifying performance (17,229 from Week One; 5,450 from Week Two). 
• Details of the B.A.A.’s two-week registration process for Qualifiers can be found on the following web page:
  http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/athlete-registration/registration-information.aspx
• 2,976 applicants were unable to be accepted due to the large number of eligible qualifiers who submitted an application for entry combined with field size limitations.
• During Week One, when the fastest of all Qualifiers submitted their application for entry:
  4,484 Qualifiers accepted met their qualifying time by 20 minutes, 00 seconds or faster;
  6,866 Qualifiers accepted met their qualifying time by 10 minutes, 00 seconds or faster;
  5,879 Qualifiers accepted met their qualifying time by 05 minutes, 00 seconds or faster.
• From Week Two, 5,450 Qualifiers were accepted.  These were Qualifiers who were one minute, 38 seconds or faster than the Qualifying time for their age group and gender.
• An additional 5,625 runners who were 2013 Boston Marathon starters who reached the half marathon checkpoint or later but did not have the opportunity to cross the finish line on Boylston Street on April 15  were invited to participate in the 2014 race, some of whom were qualified. Of those runners, 4,615 registered for 2014, 1,649 of whom were Qualifiers.
• In addition, 402 Qualifiers who have an active streak of ten or more consecutive Boston Marathon completions also entered during a pre-registration period in August and have been accepted. 

Those who submitted a verified qualifying performance that was one minute, 38 seconds (1:38) or more under the qualifying standard for their age and gender have been accepted into the race. Qualifying performances for the 2014 Boston Marathon must have been run between September 22, 2012 and September 20, 2013.  Notices via email to those accepted will be issued by the B.A.A. beginning today.

The names of those runners who have been accepted will be posted on the “Entrants” page of the B.A.A.’s web site: http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/entrants.aspx

Some of those entrants who ultimately will be accepted will not be notified of their acceptance or have their name appear because validation of qualifying performances is ongoing. The amount of time to verify the performance of qualifiers can vary from race to race.

 2014 Boston Marathon: Men’s Qualifying Standards and Accepted Times

AGE GROUP	STANDARD ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION	QUALIFICATION TIMES ACCEPTED FASTER THAN AND INCLUDING
18-34	3hrs 05min 00sec	3hrs 03min 22sec
35-39	3hrs 10min 00sec	3hrs 08min 22sec
40-44	3hrs 15min 00sec	3hrs 13min 22sec
45-49	3hrs 25min 00sec	3hrs 23min 22sec
50-54	3hrs 30min 00sec	3hrs 28min 22sec
55-59	3hrs 40min 00sec	3hrs 38min 22sec
60-64	3hrs 55min 00sec	3hrs 53min 22sec
65-69	4hrs 10min 00sec	4hrs 08min 22sec
70-74	4hrs 25min 00sec	4hrs 23min 22sec
75-79	4hrs 40min 00sec	4hrs 38min 22sec
80 and over	4hrs 55min 00sec	4hrs 53min 22sec

2014 Boston Marathon: Women’s Qualifying Standards and Accepted Times

AGE GROUP	STANDARD ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION	QUALIFICATION TIMES ACCEPTED FASTER THAN AND INCLUDING
18-34	3hrs 35min 00sec	3hrs 33min 22sec
35-39	3hrs 40min 00sec	3hrs 38min 22sec
40-44	3hrs 45min 00sec	3hrs 43min 22sec
45-49	3hrs 55min 00sec	3hrs 53min 22sec
50-54	4hrs 00min 00sec	3hrs 58min 22sec
55-59	4hrs 10min 00sec	4hrs 08min 22sec
60-64	4hrs 25min 00sec	4hrs 23min 22sec
65-69	4hrs 40min 00sec	4hrs 38min 22sec
70-74	4hrs 55min 00sec	4hrs 53min 22sec
75-79	5hrs 10min 00sec	5hrs 08min 22sec
80 and over	5hrs 25min 00sec	5hrs 23min 22sec

“While 2013 has been challenging, we appreciate and acknowledge the outpouring of support which we have received and to which we have been witness,” said Tom Grilk, B.A.A. Executive Director.  “For 2014 and with a larger field size, we wanted to achieve the correct balance among the field of participants by accepting as many qualifiers as possible, accommodating those who were prevented from crossing the finish line in 2013, and recognizing some who were directly involved in 2013. While we would like to accept all qualified runners, field size limits are in place to ensure the best possible experience for all runners in the field.  We will next address the allocation of remaining slots in as fair a fashion as we can across people and groups who are or represent those most affected by the events of April 15.”

Notices to those who submitted an application for entry but who were not accepted were also issued today.

In cooperation with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the eight cities and towns along the Boston Marathon route, the B.A.A. has set the field size for the 2014 Boston Marathon at 36,000 official entrants. At least seventy percent of the field will be comprised of athletes who have met the qualifying standards. The balance will consist of invitational entrants,many of whom run for local charitable organizations. Since 1989, between the B.A.A.’s Official Charity Program and principal sponsor John Hancock Financial’s Non-Profit Bib Program for the Boston Marathon, more than $170 million has been raised for charity.  

More on Boston 2013.. and some thoughts on 2014 too

Three weeks since the dastardly event at this year's Boston marathon while the perpetrators have been identified the motivation behind this is still unclear. And those directly impacted by the blasts are still trying to cope with it. The week of 16th April was a a horrible week for the running world and runners worldwide. While I was relieved to know that runners from India (a couple of whom I knew personally) were safe I went about my work almost like a zombie - some colleagues at work wondered why was I was off-colour and distraught. Among the several reflections  about Boston 2013 here are some that I found interesting:

We should simply come out and play more

Boston, from one citizen of the world who calls himself a runner

Let the healing begin: running still matters

One aftermath of Boston 2013 is that there is huge interest in qualifying for Boston 2014 - apparently the interest is about 15 to 20 times higher than at any point since 2008.The 118^th Boston Marathon is slated for Monday, April 21, 2014. Quoting from this article: 'In recent years, about 27,000 people have been granted entry to the race (through qualified entries, charity entries and sponsor’s exempt entries), but only 22,000 typically start the race. But several thousand are also turned away each year once the race reaches its capacity.'

So there is expected to be  a surge in marathon entries over the next several months as runners try to register a 2014 qualifying time before registration opens in early September.As per the analysis here Of the 17,580 finishers of Boston 2013 , according to MarathonGuide.com, 10,391 runners, or 59.1%, qualified for Boston 2014.  And a large number of these qualifiers would likely want to come back and run Boston 2014. Also BAA needs to decide how to handle the 4,496 runners who were unable to complete the race due to the blasts. With a time of 2 minutes 40 seconds under the qualifying time of 3:40 (achieved in SCMM 2013) my chances of getting through in the registration process in September 2013 now looks quite challenging. Unless BAA decides to expand the field of runners in 2014 - which they did before for the 100th anniversary run. I am hoping and praying that they do this. It will be very disappointing if I am unable to make it for Boston 2014. The Hyderabad marathon at the end of August is the only one I plan to run before September  and it is highly unlikely that I will be able to better my 3:37:20 on that course. Anxiously counting down the next four months...