The Wait for Boston Marathon Application Review

These days, I spend a lot of time waiting. For the last week, I've been waiting to hear back about the status of my application for the 2026 Boston Marathon. A year ago, I was waiting to find out whether my time --3:33 and change -- would be fast enough to run in Boston's 2025 race. Despite over a 6 minute cushion, my time wasn't fast enough. A mere 10 seconds slow meant that last year I was reading an email denying my entry into the 2025 race.

So, here I am again, waiting.

Last year training was much different, it was hard in a way that made me appreciate my body's strength. I could see changes and feel improvement. Though I had doubts, I was able to clear the mental hurdles of the daily grind and manage to feel confident that my training was doing its job. All I had to worry about was the training for each day, and if I was consistent, I would see success...eventually. As a woman in her 40s though, I did have concerns about overuse injuries or other issues that would make training harder or sideline my workouts.

Then, when the time came to run at the 2024 Last Chance BQ2 race, just over a year ago this week, I felt ready. But I was so nervous. I had never run a race as fast as I was setting out to, "Well, of course" I reminded myself, "that is the very definition of a PR, silly!" As race weekend approached, I remember thinking about the journey to qualifying for Boston. Some people make so many attempts and fail. Why did I think I could do it? The doubt that fills your mind as a runner, or as a human with any kind of goals, is hard to overcome. I watched inspiring race movies. I practiced my mantras. My friends encouraged me, but I was still SO NERVOUS.

Running in the shakeout run with my age group the night before the Last Chance BQ2 race where we would all try to make our Boston Marathon race dreams come true, my fellow runners elected me to pace them. "YOU, you seem fast. Pace us. We'll do it together." They shared their fears, their close calls, their obstacles, and their own doubts. Then somehow, I wanted to it even more than I already had after 9 months of dedicated training.

The marathon is a beast of a race. Every marathon. There is no easy part, and I think the pacing is one of the very tricky parts, especially when you're attempting peak performance for a PR. It is a puzzle to utilize the body to its best, but not too much and not too soon, and to use your energy well for endurance over the entire race. Too fast and you may not be able to keep pace in the second half. Too slow and you may burn too much time and not be able to recover. It's an art, and every race day is different. It's hard. Beautifully so.

For Last Chance BQ2 race day, the pacing felt so easy, but they encouraged us to speed up in the second half if we wanted to build in margin for the inevitable Boston Marathon cuts. Everyone thought the margin would be about 6 minutes and 30 seconds FASTER than our qualifying time. Most of us were pacing for just under our qualifying time, so to pull out that much margin felt like a big ask to me. But, around we go. Looping and looping, I think "I feel so GOOD. This is TOO EASY." I break away after the second loop and begin to speed up. "How fast should I go?" I'm already at a PR pace, so I have no idea. "What am I doing?" I am SO AFRAID of draining myself and not being able to finish. But I have no choice if I want a shot at Boston. "Here I come."

It doesn't feel much harder to go 20+ seconds faster. I pass people. A lot of people. This is fun. Round and around we go, I finish with a 6 minute and 41 second margin. That should do it, based on the projections. It was a beautiful day that gave me a nearly 46 minute PR in the marathon. I had doubted that I could add a 6 minute and 30 second buffer, but after training for 9 months with a solid performance on race day, I did what I needed to do! Well, so I thought.

So, when Boston registration opened the Monday following the race, I was SO EXCITED to submit my time and application. It was a big PR for me, and it felt SO GOOD to see my hard work pay off. Friday of registration week, the news hit that the Boston Athletic Association had a record number of entries for the 2025 race, and there would be massive cuts. I could feel my throat catch and my heart rate increase. I knew what may be coming.

Monday morning, a week ago this year, I got the email denying my entry into the 2025 Boston Marathon. Everything had been great, training, race day, even making a large margin for additional time buffer, but it still wasn't enough. Everything went right, but it wasn't yet my time. It's incredible that so many runners had such a big margin for entry. I couldn't be too upset. Technically, my time was still good for the 2026 race, when I'd be entering under a new age category. My time would come, but just not yet.

What would you do? I had started down this journey to meet a goal, but along the way the training had provided a great outlet for me to manage some life changes that were happening. I wasn't ready to give that up, and races keep me accountable. I wondered, "What if I just kept racing?" The appeal of training and racing to keep my body in shape for an eventual Boston Marathon had a certain appeal. Traveling is another one of my passions, and with a few friends in faraway places, perhaps traveling for racing would be a good way to check in, get a change of scenery, and stay in shape. So, that's what I did.

And now, a year has gone by, and I'm here waiting again. I'm hopeful that with a new PR, a new age qualifying time, and a different field, I'll get accepted into the 2026 race.

While I thought 9 months of training for a race was educational, training and then racing for 1 year has been something else entirely. Those 10 seconds that prevented me from acceptance into Boston 2025 launched me into a year-long quest. Countless lessons and experiences that wouldn't have existed if I'd been successful the first time. It was another beautiful day 2 months after getting denied that I ran a new PR that would take me to Boston 2026 if I'm accepted. The training for 2025 prepared me to run. The racing that came after prepared me for so much more.

And so here I sit with hope and anticipation, waiting to see what's next.

LET'S GOOOOOOO!

XOXO,

T