Does Boston make the runner?

If you have read the biography blurb on my website, then you'll know that tackling the marathon was my first adventure into the endurance world. Sitting down and writing out the goals I had for that first year was extremely motivating. I remember creating a "goal focused pyramid" from those ideas. The peak of that pyramid said, "qualify for the Boston Marathon."

That first marathon (Lincoln Marathon, 1999) opened my eyes to what it would take to reach that goal. After running the first half of the race in approximately 1:32, I finished the day walk / jogging the last 10 miles to finish in 3:53.

That race did not deter me from accomplishing the goal of qualifying for Boston. It just took longer than I anticipated. I did not run any race in 2000 but continued this journey in 2001, while I also started to learn more about the sport of triathlon. In 2003, I ran the Flying Pig Marathon, my 4th marathon. That day all things went well and I finally qualified.

I decided that I would not run the Boston Marathon in 2004. It was a tough decision because you never know if you'll qualify again. I learned a lot from making that decision. I learned a lot about myself, my motives for doing endurance sports and the different perspectives that exist within the running world.

Does Boston make the runner?

Today I had an entry that showed up in my blogline feeds that has been creating all kinds of thoughts about the meaning of qualifying for Boston. The entry was from a blog written by Brad Feld called Feld Thoughts. The title of the entry was, "Boston Marathon - Major Emotional Bummer". The post was a response to a reader that emailed Brad and said that he should be ashamed that he is running the Boston Marathon, even though he didn't qualify. (Brad is using a charity spot.) This creates all kinds of questions:

1. Should Boston be only for those who qualified? And should Brad (and other charity runners) be ashamed?
2. Should runners that qualify under the newer time standards feel less about their running because they couldn't/didn't qualify with the old standards?
3. Should the Boston marathon have tougher qualifying times?
4. Should Boston have one qualifying time for men and one qualifying time for women and get rid of the age-based standards?
5. What is the significance of including charities into the Boston Marathon?

It is interesting how much prestige running the Boston Marathon carries with it in the running world. I have had many reactions from others regarding the fact that I chose not to run Boston. It sometimes feels like I won't be "justified" until I make it over Heartbreak Hill and through the finish line. But I take comfort from the fact that I know others that have qualified many times, yet have never ran the race either.

I hope to run the Boston Marathon someday. It would be great if the marathon I run in Massachusetts was Boston. But I really don't plan on doing it anytime soon. There are too many other cool things I would like to do first.

As for Brad's situation. I say congratulations. Raising the money for the charity is more significant than me taking my running shoes to the northeast and turning out 26.2 miles. Even if it is the Boston Marathon.

More questions on the validity of endurance accomplishment.

This issue is not isolated to the Boston Marathon however. I have heard many people say similar things about doing an Ironman distance race and Ironman Hawaii. Such as:

1. Should a person take a lottery spot to do Ironman Hawaii?
2. Is doing an Ironman distance race the same as doing an Ironman?
3. Should Ironman allow celebrity spots in the Hawaii race?

I just don't know what to think about all of this. And to be honest, writing this post has really taking some life out of the things/activities that generally create a lot of fulfillment for me.

Walt's words of wisdom

After the Pappa John's 10 Mile the other day, Walt said,

Exercise is a journey for me, not a destination.

I have to agree with him. If I run a sub 3 hour race in a couple weeks, that isn't the end of my journey. Neither would running Boston or completing the Hawaii Ironman. There is always more that lay ahead.