BQ at the Napa Valley Marathon
jturnerx
Posts: 325 Member
After two failed attempts in 2010 I thought this was out of reach. I'd gotten within 10 minutes and 5 minutes. I knew I was going to end up hating running if I kept at it so I turned my back on achieving a BQ time and pursued other running goals.
Five years later, I gave it another shot at Napa Valley last Sunday and did it.
I couldn't be happier. My chip time was 3:58 on the dot. A full two minutes under my BQ time. I hope I did enough. I know the cut off for this year was -1:02 and the year before -1:38. Crossing my fingers for 2016.
I negative split the race. Felt super strong the whole way. Had zero issues. The only thing that nearly derailed everything was me not taking into consideration that courses run long. That's an extra 2-3 minutes. Lesson learned.
Five years later, I gave it another shot at Napa Valley last Sunday and did it.
I couldn't be happier. My chip time was 3:58 on the dot. A full two minutes under my BQ time. I hope I did enough. I know the cut off for this year was -1:02 and the year before -1:38. Crossing my fingers for 2016.
I negative split the race. Felt super strong the whole way. Had zero issues. The only thing that nearly derailed everything was me not taking into consideration that courses run long. That's an extra 2-3 minutes. Lesson learned.
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Replies
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*claps* yay!0
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Congratulations on your run! I need to learn to pace myself and not crash and burn. Sounds like you had a good plan.I ran the Myrtle Beach Marathon and finally qualified for Boston a couple of weeks ago.0
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Congrats!!!! I would think that is a good margin, there is a BQ cutoff predictor using times from large 'already' run marathons that feed into Boston. Currently they predict the cutoff to be 48 seconds. http://boston-qualifier-stats.blogspot.com/
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Congratulations! Amazing race!!0
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Cooriander, thanks for the link! Something I can stalk neurotically until the fall. LOL0
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WOW!!! Amazing!
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Congratulations! I did my first Boston last year and it was one of the highlights of my life!0
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Congratulations0
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That's great. Plus, it is Napa so....there was wine and great food at the end!0
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Awesome. Congratulations.
FYI...if it was a certified course, chances are it was not long. Courses are measured on the tangents...the shortest distance you can run and still be on the course. Unless you're the leader, you're probably not running the tangents...hence the longer distance.0 -
Fantastic job. Loved seeing your times drop towards the end. That's just perfection right there. Congratulations.
My marathon in December showed 26.55 miles on my Garmin. I just figured I zig zagged too much. It happens.0 -
I'm totally aware of 1) the inaccuracy of commercial grade gps and 2) my inability to always run the perfect tangent even when I'm trying my best to do so. I just need to remember these two things the next time minutes and seconds matter so much. I'm unlikely to ever produce a BQ time where I'm not concerned about the cut off. lol0
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ah congratulations delighted for you!0
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Congratulations! I'm going for a BQ this year as well!0
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Awesome. I am also hoping for a BQ this fall. I need to shave 7.5 minutes.0
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That's fantastic! Congrats0
