I am kind of excited

I have been thinking about making requalifying for Boston my goal for the next year. But I am a bit dismayed by the realization that even if I do manage to run a qualifying time, there is no guarantee to get in due to the increased demand of the last couple of years. The new system they have instituted makes things a bit more fair, but it still will fill as soon as it opens.

I knew about the Gansett Marathon in Rhode Island, that was started a couple of years ago as an alternative for people who were closed out of Boston. It's the Saturday before Boston, and unlike Boston, you absolutely have to run a qualifying time to get in (Boston has spots open for charity runners, celebrities, foreign tourists, what have you---if you want to run Boston that way, you can get in). It's a little race without all the hoopla, or in other words, precisely the kind of thing that I really like best anyway.

But I had assumed the qualifying times were more stringent. I thought everybody had to run under 3:20 orf 3:30 or something like that. Turns out, Gansett has the same standards now as Boston. So that means, 4:00 right now for me until I turn 55, when I get an extra ten minutes. And just like it does for Boston, my April birthday gives me a little bonus in that I can run that 55 year old time while I am still just 53 years old. Even better, it looks like they give you a two-year qualifying window, so I could actually run that 4:10 anytime after next April 21, and I could use it in 2014.

And if I run sub-4:00, I could go sooner.

But the big thing is I feel pretty confident that the way things are going right now, I can get a 4:10 next year. It is nice to know that I can use it for something prestigious, even if I do get closed out of Boston.