When you blog once a month or less, you are tempted to cram everything that happened since your last post into a single post...because SO MUCH has happened! But let me try and stick to the key stories, in my view at least.
OK, this topic has been beaten to death in the running community, but I have to mention it...the new Boston qualifying standards. Humor me...whaddya think? I must say, I think tightening the qualifying times for 2013 ain't a bad idea. C'mon, you run your heart out, qualify by more than 30 minutes and then end up not being able to race, because you were at work the day registration opened and didn't have an hour and a half to waste, battle technical glitches and compete with a million others also signing up at the same time? And the new registration procedure for 2012 that allows the fastest runners in each age category the first shot is, in my opinion, reasonable.
Of course, that means if I should ever hope to BQ, I better accomplish it this year! Because, as if these standards aren't tough enough, there are more than rumblings about women's qualifying standards being tightened even further, thanks to the elite women marathoners who are catching up to their male counterparts, threatening to leave them in the dust.
On another note, I raced the Manhattan Half Marathon (good grief, it was 5 weeks ago), and PRed! I was pretty pleased, because for the entire race, I had icicles hanging from my nose, ears and hair, and I could not feel my fingers through my ski gloves. The water at the aid stations were frozen solid and the gatorade hurt the oesophagus going in, it was so cold. The race was 2 loops of the hilly Central Park. I completed in 1:39:22, a 7:35 pace. I can never figure out the hype about racing in NY. You wake up at an insane hour to drive into the city, drive around in circles for hours before you find parking several miles from the start, run like crazy to the start and get there just as the gun is going off...so there you are, clutching your sides, trying to catch your breath from all the running you've done already...and the race has just begun!
It was fun driving in with the group though. We went in 2 cars, the guys in one, the gals in the other. After the race, we changed in the parked cars (ah! the looks we got, when various boobs popped out...but when you've been racing for any length of time, propriety is never the first thing on your mind) and met the others from the club for the most delicious breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien.
By the way, here's an article that came out in a local Denver newspaper and features one of the mountain climbs my little brother went on. He lives in Boulder and climbs regularly. This climb was just a tad out of the ordinary.
Denver Mountain Rescue
Needless to say, I am extremely proud of him!!!
Ta ta...see y'all in a few months...er, sooner, I hope!
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5 comments:
Congrats on the PR--sounds like less than stellar conditions.
I totally agree with you on Boston. It all seems reasonable to me.
Nice job with the PR! I would love the race in New York, but only because I've never been there. I think the marathon would be a fun way to see the city.
congrats on the pr! maybe you should park outside the city and take the subway in next time... :)
i'm ok w/ the standards changing, but i think they should just lower them all together and not have tiered registration. i don't really like the idea of people crossing the finish line at a 3:39 (or whatever) and wondering if they ran fast enough to get in.
Lindsay, unfortunately trains don't operate at the time we would need to get in, for the race! I agree with you on Boston, just think that no matter how much you lower the standards, there will be a ton of runners vying with each other to get in...it's just become too damn popular!
Glad that you are back and congrats on your PR! Yeah! Hope you get your BQ- you are so fast I bet you will be able to meet the new standard, too. It was inevitable that the standard would have to be adjusted. Just logistacally it wasn't working.
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