No visit to Beantown

Poor Tina didn't get into the Boston Marathon.  She's pretty bummed, but turned right around and signed up for the Carlsbad Marathon to be held January 22, 2012.  She's going with her whole family and has invited me and my husband and two girls to go along.  We're not sure financially if we can make it work or if my 6th grader can miss two days of school since that will be the end of the grading period but we'll see.  If I don't run Carlsbad with her, I have my sights set on the Lost Dutchman Marathon to be held February 19, 2012.  I have run the half marathon there before and really enjoyed it.  Plus, it's local and cheap - only $80 registration! - with a cap of 600 runners (my kind of crowd).  I'm torn because I want to train with my BRB (best running buddy) but am not sure if I can go to Carlsbad with her.  After looking at what the training schedule would be for her and I if we ran two separate races a month apart there are quite a few runs we could do together.  Even one of our 20 milers would fall on the same weekend so I think I'll be okay going it alone the last month.  I'll let you all know what I decide but it's gotta be soon because October 9th marks 16 weeks to Carlsbad so we would need to officially start training then.  We'll see!  Until next time, keep your sanity by staying in the moment and running!

Boston anyone?

Hey running moms!  My BRB (Best Running Buddy), Tina has qualified for Boston and now has to find a way to get in.  I say "find a way" because registration is extremely difficult this year more than previous years - it will be on a "rolling admission".  For the first time, registration opens today to those who have qualified by 20 minutes or more, on Sept. 14th it opens up for those who qualified by 10 minutes or more, and on Sept. 16th to those who qualified by 5 minutes or more.  If (and that's a BIG "if") space allows, they will open it up to the rest on Monday, September 19th.  This is where Tina falls...
It will be a huge deal for her to get in.  She only qualified by one minute and if she doesn't get in this year, she has to qualify again and by 5 minutes FASTER next time since they are increasing the times again.  What does all this say about the running community?  To me, it says we have become faster and more efficient.  Runners today are more educated and are taking running more seriously.  We read up on nutrition, training, injury prevention, etc. and it's paying off with faster times and more marathoners than ever before.  For those of us who don't have the dream (or, let's face it, ability) to qualify for Boston it's a non-issue.  For the rest of you, keep up the hard work and you'll get there!  I'll keep you posted on September 19th to let you know if Tina was one of the lucky ones.  If not, she and I will run another local marathon early next year.  Keep your fingers crossed for her!