With a big race coming up in less than 48 hours, I've tried to savor this moment, but I've been focused on getting mentally ready for Sunday's race. I've actually lost a few half hours of sleep each night this week thinking about pacing and the various parts of the course...but that's for another blog.
Between Ryan Hall's sudden departure from the Mammoth Track Club and the Boston Marathon selling out in less than a work day, the online running world has been abuzz.
The great Boston sellout seems to have brought mixed emotions from folks. Some call it a tragedy, others an injustice, while some are simply indifferent. Either way, the Boston entry system seems to have suddenly become running's equivalent to the BCS debate in college football.
What is the right way? Is there one? Is the BQ still as illustrious as before...if you may not even get in? Who knew so many people could hate charity runners?
I think we're going to see qualification times raised for 2011. That 3:10:59 suddenly becomes a 3:00 and I'm back to the drawing board to modify my training to get faster. Got a great quote the other day that essentially sums up how I feel about that: Stepping outside the comfort zone is the price I pay to find out how good I can be. If I planned on backing off every time running got difficult I would hang up my shoes and take up knitting. --Desire Davila
As one who got in, I'm thrilled to be running Boston for the second time. Having been through it once, I feel like I'm better equipped with the knowledge to "do it right" if that's possible, or perhaps "do it better" is more appropriate. While I had trouble getting my form to go though during registration, my mind had already raced ahead to contingency plans: maybe I run Philly with my wife in November; maybe we finally pull the trigger on Big Sur; I braced myself for the letdown and would certainly have been one of the people lambasting the BAA.
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