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In Light of Monday's Tragedy............

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SOOZIE429
SOOZIE429 Posts: 638 Member
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I'm seriously contemplating running Boston next year. However, I have never run a marathon before, longest distance I've ever run was 6 miles and that was a few years ago. I am currently in training again for a 5-mile road race. I stopped running about a year ago and proceeded to gain weight and am out of shape.

So, my husband (who has run 2 marathons) and I are seriously contemplating running next year's Boston Marathon for one of the victims' charities.

Running that far scares me a bit. But I think Monday's atrocity is the something that will kick me in the butt to finally do it.

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  • ShinyDragonfly
    ShinyDragonfly Posts: 301 Member
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    I'm planning to run it as well. This will be my first ever marathon. I started the C25K program today and the first day was awesome! I feel so good! When I complete this program I'll start training for the next up (10k?) and register for some 5Ks. I'll just slowly keep increasing it until I'm Boston Ready!!!
  • pdworkman
    pdworkman Posts: 1,342 Member
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    Don't you have to be pretty fast to qualify for Boston? A lot of people race for years before they qualify. I've run a couple of halves, and I'm slow. There's no way I would qualify.
  • ShinyDragonfly
    ShinyDragonfly Posts: 301 Member
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    You can also run for charity and have people sponsor you to get into the Boston Marathon.
  • pdworkman
    pdworkman Posts: 1,342 Member
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    Ah, thanks!
    You can also run for charity and have people sponsor you to get into the Boston Marathon.
  • TheBrolympus
    TheBrolympus Posts: 586 Member
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    From Wikipedia:
    An exception to the qualification times is for runners who receive entries from partners. About one-fifth of the marathon's spots are reserved each year for charities, sponsors, vendors, licensees, consultants, municipal officials, local running clubs, and marketers. In 2010, about 5,470 additional runners received entries through partners, including 2,515 charity runners.[20] The marathon currently allocates spots to two dozen charities who in turn are expected to raise more than $10 million a year.[21]

    So do you have to raise a certain about of money or just be involved with one of these charity teams?
  • louiseshaw88
    louiseshaw88 Posts: 132 Member
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    You can do anything you set your mind to, you have a long time to be able to build your distance up - go for it :)
  • ShinyDragonfly
    ShinyDragonfly Posts: 301 Member
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    You're welcome :) I am super excited about it. I could be wrong but I do believe it has the highest qualifying standards in the country so you weren't wrong about that.

    I'm not sure about specific amounts of money, I am still working on that bit of it for myself. But I feel like you would just need to be involved with one of the charities or get one that will let you sponsor them.
  • pdworkman
    pdworkman Posts: 1,342 Member
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    Here is the FAQ on qualifying:

    http://www.runnersworld.com/races/2014-boston-marathon-registration-faq

    Registration opens in September and last year was closed by the end of October.


    Here is the information on the charities program (for 2013):

    http://216.235.243.43/utilities/charities.aspx

    I only clicked through a few, and they all said:

    "_________ is now ONLY accepting applications from qualified entrants, who have already secured their 2013 Boston Marathon race entry with the B.A.A."

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