Mr. Boston Speaks To Me

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Dave McGillivray. For those of you who do not know, Dave is the race director for the Boston Marathon. I had inquired about what the likely qualifying time for the break between Start 1 and Start 2 would be. Dave's response was that it would likely be somewhere around 3:30±5 minutes. The result for me, with a 3:29 and change qualifier was that I don't know which start I will be in.

I could say that I know nothing more, but that is not the case. I know that I will either be one of the fastest runners in Start 2 or one of the slowest in start 1. The former scenario would allow me to run at my pace much more readily than the latter. The problem I would face, since pacing discipline is not my strong suit, would be that I might well go out too fast. At many marathons this would be unpleasant; at Boston, with the hills near the 20-mile mark, it could well mean a death march to the finish. I expect that I won't know more until registration closes.

I had seen, on occasion, condemnations of Boston Marathon management on various websites. This e-mail convinced me that those condemnations are unjustified. I am just a mid-packer, so I can be pretty confident that my communication did not get special treatment. I suggested that this information be posted on the Boston Marathon website and was told that it would be done, so (meaningless, but shameless gloat), I guess I am responsible for a change to the site.