The Boston Marathon. This week is a celebration of a goal achieved. The Boston marathon is a coveted event mainly because not everyone can get in, only those who qualify and based on registration from this year, that's not a guarantee. Being a un-athletic, slow white guy from south carolina, I'm going to enjoy myself along the 26.2 miles. I'll call it my 26.2 victory lap.
It all started in August of 2006. I had just gotten married and a local gym was having a 5k road race and I remember thinking, I wonder if I could even run the entire way! After the race I was hooked. That began a hobby that I still haven't given up! The next March I ran my first marathon and finishing in 3:31:48, 1:48 off of my goal time. I remember thinking as I crossed the finish line "that wasn't so bad", but then I quit moving for the rest of the day and tried to walk again....PAIN!
I tried the marathon distance again in 2008 with the thunder road marathon in Charlotte, NC...that wasn't so pretty. I knew I was in better shape but didn't know how much better shape. I ran the first 20 miles, then walk/jogged the last 6.2 finishing in a time of 3:26. I was now 16 minutes from my goal of qualifying for the elusive Boston Marathon. I would wonder from time to time if I would ever be able to qualify. Being the recreational runner that I am the Boston is like the Olympics. It's something you must earn and the standards are high enough that you must put in quality, hard workouts in order to achieve the desired time, and even then it's not guaranteed that you will have a successful race. I'm never going to come close to qualifying for the Olympics or am I even going to try but to me the Boston marathon is the olympics.
After the Charlotte marathon I hurt worse than the time before, mainly because there were more hills, especially the one that the race director decided to put at the finish!(thanks). I still wanted to try and make it to Boston. I set out in 2009 to train to qualify at a winter marathon so I picked the flattest marathon I could, Kiawah Island.
2009 ended up being a good race year for me, every race I participated in I ran a personal best and lucking up in a few and actually being the overall winner! The time came to test the fitness and see if I could reach my goal of running a qualifying time of 3:10 or faster at Kiawah Island Marathon.
Check back tomorrow as I take you through my experience of qualifying for Boston at the Kiawah Island Marathon. I will be updating my page each day before the trip and as we leave on Saturday.
Today's Run: 4-5 miles @ Marathon Pace
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