Boston Marathon - so it begins

I ran my first marathon, the Carlsbad Marathon, at age 41 in 2013.  My goal was to finish.  I ran it in 4:07 or 9:26 a mile.  After finishing, I vowed never to run a marathon again.

I ran my second marathon, the Carlsbad Marathon, at age 42 in 2014.  My primary goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  To do so I needed to run 3:15 or less.  My secondary goal was to run a 3:00 marathon.  I figured if I shot for 3:00 and failed, I'd qualify for Boston.  I ran it in 3:06 or 7:06 mile.

The Boston Marathon accepts registrations on a rolling basis, based on qualifying times.  I was allowed to register on Friday, September 12, 2014, as I qualified by more than five minutes.  On September 14, 2014, my entry was officially accepted.

This made it real.  For nine months, it wasn't real.  It wasn't concrete.  It was like a baby in my wife's belly. Now it was real.  Now I had to plan.  First up, I needed a plane ticket.  My wife, aka travel agent, took care of that.  Second, place to stay.  I texted my Bostonian brother and told him I was coming.  Next up goal pace.

I ran a 1:20 half-marathon in January.  In my mind, I could have run it a bit faster.  Double it, add a few minutes and voila, I decided on 2:45 goal pace or 6:17 a mile.  Can I do it? I think so.  Will I do it?  That depends on the training.  Was I crazy.  Sure.

But so it begins.  On Friday, I was on my way to a run on the coast.  As I drove west on the 78, I looked to my left and saw a billboard.  "Low fares to BOSTON" was the message.  That was my sign, both figuratively and literally that I had made the right choice.

If you are interested in following my training journey to Boston, check it out at http://www.strava.com/athletes/1865679.