Boston marathon

BOINGG

Looks like you're the only one this year Steve.  I guess anyone running in London or Paris will be on pretty much the same schedule as you, so there's plenty of others on the same road, so to speak.

They do make a lot of the hills.  On their own they're not much to speak of, but coming where they do in the race, if you've been over-zealous on the first (downhill) half you'll pay for it on the upslopes.  Get your pacing right and they're no big deal.  Enjoy!

Thanks. I have my pacing pretty much sorted. Maybe I'll try and find a hill of the same slope just to get a feel for it. My mrs booked an apartment through trip advisor for the week for about $1800 and air tickets via Expedia with Virgin Atlantic so we are all set. Now I just have to keep up the training through the winter.

100 days to go!  Started a 16 week build up last week. Need to book flghts but likely to travel out a week earlier and have a weeks holiday in and around NYC.

I ran at Boston in 2004 but it was a very hot year, so all targets went out of the window.   I agree with Cheerful Dave, get the pacing right and the hills are not as big a problem as you sometime read.    However, I am making an effort to put more hills in my training than normal, but I live in Peterborough which is pretty flat, so I need more hill work anyway!   

Hi,

I just registered for the forum (now making my first post) to see if there were many others from the UK running the Boston marathon this year.

This will be my first time. Hotel is booked and the training is on schedule.... 

A question for anyone that has done it before - From what I have seen on YouTube, the start looks very compact and the roads quite narrow. Is there a lot of traffic at the beginning? Does it take a while to get into the your pace?

Y- I ran Boston in 2009 and yes the road is narrow at the start and there are lots of people but they put runners in corals based on their quailifying times with fast ones at the front and graduated back. Whereas in other races runners often blag their times and end up in the wrong corals causing chaos ,this did not happen and the crowd seemed to move along 'as one '. It was a strange experience having lots of people closely moving along at the same pace .Eventually the road opened up and the crowding ended. Also the hills are not really a problem-overall the route is net down hill. Putting a few biggish hills in the last 3-4 miles of my LR and a hilly MLR each week did the trick.I would love to give it another go especially whilst I still have a qualifying time

 One of my all time favourites. Cracking location and lots to do and see. History to whale watching, Cheers original and replica, Ironsides, Bunker Hill, DUKW trips, oldest pub and restaurant in America, good Hard Rock cafe etc etc. Whole place gets a bit mara mad, The yellow bus convoy to the start is phenomenal. First 10k is easy to get carried away on as it's mainly downhill and going too fast here will definitely cost you in the later stages. This is one, I believe, to hold back on in the first half. Would love to go back for another crack. Scream tunnel is truly unique...check it  out on youtube. Last hill is a bit cheeky, catching out quite a few.

Thanks for the reply

I thought everyone who had a place must have a qualifying time and as they tightened it up this year I imagined that everyone would be finishing in somewhere around the three hour or less mark, hence thinking it would be very congested.

But looking at last years results there is a huge spread of finishing times. I guess there are a lot of charity places or other ballot places that they give out to people without a qualifying time?

+1 for April 2013.

Following the same sort of training cycle as I used for VLM last year (my BQ race). As I am surrounded by hills, I'm running more of them rather than diverting to the local canal path which I used for VLM long runs.

I improved on my VLM time in Abingdon so emailed BAA with the new time and they are looking to move me further up the field, but won't know for sure until late March/early April.

Off next week for some training in Spain - daily temp range out there: 14-20 degrees and sunny at moment, so no excuses!

Flights and accom. booked last September - flying BA and staying in an Airbnb apartment/ensuite room. Cost £363 from Thursday to following Tuesday........

Steve - I'm heading for La Manga.

A resort which is better known to golfers, footballers and tennis fans but there are 3 golf courses to run around, a national park leading down to the sea, mountains behind and a long windy run through the woods from sea level up to a height of 300 metres - and back!

If you are not jealous yet, the daytime range of temperature (today) was 14 - 20 degrees C and sunny.......... I was there for the same week last year.......

Is it hard to get a place if you've got a qualifying time? I would be aiming to qualify for Boston 2014 with the Dublin marathon in October this year. Does anyone know would places be full by then?

Judging from this year it would be full by then.  In the last couple of years Boston has filled very quickly, within a few days of opening (in July I think).  Changes to the qualifying times may alter that a bit but I wouldn't bank on getting a slot unless you've already got a time. 

On the plus side, a qualifying time in October this year should be good for Boston in 2015...

Cheers Dave. Back to the drawing board then. Looks like it opens at the start of September so I'd have to do a marathon before then. I've got a big race in May and September that I don't want to impact.. late June/July maybe.

Bear in mind they can be a bit picky over what marathons you can use as a qualifying time - the big ones should be OK but if you try & use the Warminster-on-Sea village marathon you might have a problem.

Still Barca in May then?

Tri an Mhi in Ireland. Its the middle distance national champs. Barca was tempting but you can't do them all! Belfast marathon is probably a qualifier and its on my doorstep but its in May, 2 weeks before Tri an Mhi. I'm thinking its enough time to recover if I can hold back a little and still hit the time, but that could backfire badly.

I'm running. training hard and eally excited. flying out on my own  on saturday and straight home afterwards