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In April, I will be running the Boston Marathon, the most prestigious and high-profile marathon in America. For so many runners, it is the holy grail of marathons and I look forward to an event with mythic status among runners in the country: it is the most historic marathon in the world. It celebrates Patriots’ Day, the holiday that commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Boston Marathon is a big reason for why the event and the marathon event itself have achieved such tremendous popularity in the country. It remains the deepest field for a marathon in the country.
In both November of last year and March of this year, I ran marathon times to qualify for the Boston Marathon, with times under three hours. I ran 2:40 in the Savannah Marathon and 2:52 in the Albany Marathon, and although I still think I have more in the tank and have goals more lofty than what I did in Savannah, the results were great for a first-time marathoner. Yes, I encountered a lot of challenges. Yes, I thought about giving up multiple times.
I frame the article in terms of qualifying for the Boston Marathon because of its prestige, and the fact that many runners and non-runners don their shoes in the rain, snow, extreme heat, and every adverse weather condition in between for the chance to qualify for it. It is the dream of so many…
