I want to qualify for Boston?

Boston is the only marathon in the world, short of the olympics and championships, that you have to qualify for. I just learned this.

I am doing my first marathon in October of this year. I have never run a marathon. Why would I think I could qualify for Boston.....anytime soon. I have no idea how fast I could/would run a marathon. I doubt you just double your half marathon time  - which my best is 2:04. I haven't run a half marathon in a year. I am pretty sure I could better that time and I would hope go sub 2:00.

I just looked it up. AFTER I age up to the next age group - next year - I would need to run a 3:55 marathon to qualify. That boils down to between an 8:50-9:00 minute/mile. Hmmm...I have no idea if that is doable over the next several years or not. I have read stories of women taking a year or two to really 'work' at qualifying.

If you don't know me well, you probably don't know that I LOVE a challenge. I LOVE being told that I can't do something because then I want to do it even more than ever.

( I was told in high school by an ignorant guidance counselor once that I would never go to anything more than community college. I was an A student in high school - I really never understood it and boy, did it tick my mother off!! The rest of the story......I went on to a 4 year college, then got accepted to 7 veterinary schools, graduated second in my veterinary class, went on to do an internship and a residency, and passed my board certification exam on the first try. What an a$$ that guidance counselor was!)

So, whether or not I can or will BQ is a story still to be told. I think I need to run my first full marathon and see how I like the distance.

Has anyone had to work hard to finish a challenge they started?

Ramblings...

49 days until Eagleman. Only 2 weeks until MY race season officially starts with the NJ Marathon Relay. One week after that I have my first triathlon in VA. I feel like I have a countdown going for everything....MCM is 189 days away. I hope I am not just wishing my days away.

We are just days after the tragedy of the Boston Marathon. I have never even fathomed that I could qualify for Boston, ever. Now, more than ever, I would like to actually BQ (Boston Qualify). I want to do this race. I want to be one of the thousands of runners that shows the world that runners can't be stopped. It has been evidenced this week. Just a day after the marathon bombings, the fitness pages of facebook had organized virtual runs and race shirt days. It was incredible how quickly everyone mobilized in support of Boston. I am proud to be part of that movement. Did I just say I want to BQ?

I received multiple emails in the days following Boston from other races that I am participating in regarding the increase in their safety measures. I am beyond heartbroken and devastated for the family of little Martin Richard, the 8 year old boy who died in the bombings as he was waiting for his father to cross the finish line. His sister lost a leg and his mother has a brain injury. I can not imagine the survivors guilt the father must feel - they came to the race to watch him. He is fine and his family is destroyed. I am not sure I would be able to live with that. I have had my family at many finish lines....and I love it. I love looking for them and hearing them cheer me on. I love my husband running his own 'race' to get the best pictures of me. He is totally there because of me. I am not sure how I would feel if he was injured or killed just because he was at a certain location watching me. Running in DC in October should be interesting. Mixed emotions.

We can't control these things and we can't let these 'bad' people 'win'. Just like after 9/11, we will go on. We will continue to run races and have our families support us. We will run for the runners in Boston who didn't get to finish their race. We will run faster and stronger to show the world that runners will not be stopped. Did I just say I want to BQ?