RunBlog

 Grateful Boston Marathon 2016 Getting into Boston in 2016 involved some drama. I had run 3:27:20 at Bay State against a qualifying time of 3:30:00. But the BAA had started using cut-off times in 2012. Would my margin of 2:40 be enough?  On my Boston application, I made a bone-headed move. The application asks for your qualifying time. I went back to the official results from Bay State Marathon 2014 and entered the time they had listed for me. But as it turned out, I entered the gun time instead of the chip time. (There was a few seconds difference between the time the starting gun went off and when I actually crossed the starting line mat.) So when the BAA announced the cut-off time of 2:28, I was distraught. I hadn’t made the cut! I had missed out by just a few seconds. But then I received an email from the BAA that I had indeed been accepted. Thankfully they had noticed my error, and they used the correct time in evaluating my application. I didn’t realize what had hap

Return of Med Tent Jeff Bay State Marathon 2014 I signed up for another go-round with coach Lowell to chase another Boston qualifying time in fall 2014. This time, however, I insisted on trading one of my easy-run days for a bike workout, wary of what another 6-day-a-week regimen would do to me at age 49 (especially after having run a marathon in the spring). The rest of his training was the same mix of long speed workouts and high mileage that had worked for me in the past.  This race would not go the way of my other Lowell-led races. My Boston qualifying time was still 3:30, but I knew that I’d have to run faster than that because of the cut-off times that the BAA had started instituting in 2012. Race day was in the 50’s and cloudy--terrific weather. I ran with T. Martin, who is younger and faster than me, until about mile 13. My pacing was a bit erratic: 7:27 for mile 3, 8:02 for mile 8. I knew, based on how I was feeling for the first half of the race, that there were chall

Horror Boston Marathon 2013 The picture of us before the race is eerie to look at, knowing what was coming. This was a race I almost didn’t get into. After running a qualifying time at Mohawk Hudson in early October 2012, I remember sitting in a Panera with Sharon after the race. I thought to check the Boston Marathon website. They were still accepting applications for the 2013 race, and I signed up right there on my phone.    I actually don’t remember a lot about the race itself except that it was a beautiful day. This was my 4th Boston--2nd as a qualifier--so I felt like I knew the course and could anticipate a little better how I would feel along the way.  I finished the race and met up with Sharon at the corner of Stuart and Berkeley. I then made my way back to my office at nearby 75 Arlington St. while she went back out to collect more club members. (My office was a place for club members to clean up and recover a bit before heading home.) I was in the lobby of the 75 Arli