Thoughts on Boston

Whew.  OK, I'm totally glad it's not just me...I was reading Jessica's blog and so glad that I'm not the only one who gets all emotional reading, hearing and watching all the goings on as related to the Boston Marathon.  Yesterday morning I turned on the TV, which happened to be on the marathon and I caught the first half hour of the womens' race, and the start of the mens'.  Almost immediately I could feel my eyes start to well up as I thought about all the runners in Boston, fulfilling what I can probably say for most of them is a dream. 

For the non-runners out there...what's the big deal about Boston, you ask?  It's one of those pinnacle races...almost all runners have heard of it, and I can say that the majority (not all though, I'm sure) of runners have dreamt or thought about qualifying for Boston (or BQ, as we like to call it).  I gotta say the qualifying times are pretty fast - for my age group, I'd have to run a 3:45 marathon (and I'm no spring chicken!) to even have the hopes of getting in...and now that they've changed the registration process, it'll be even harder to qualify.  I'd hazard I'd have to be in the 3:30-ish range to even dream of getting in.  This race is most definitely for the fastest of the fast.

As the day went on and I read more and more race reports and blog posts about fellow runners who were at Boston this year, I kept getting more and more verklempt.  As I heard about the first place finishers - Geoffry Mutai in an absolutely blazing, course record setting 2:03:02 and Caroline Kilel in a smoking 2:22:36 - I was in total awe.  I started thinking about why I was getting so darn emotional about Boston this year...and I think it's because I feel like part of the running community.  I can (in a very, very small sense mind you - I'm most definitely not an elite or even close - I haven't even finished my first marathon!) identify with how tough it is to train for the marathon.  I could imagine how absolutely amazing it must feel to be there with all those runners, and how incredible it must feel to cross that finish line.  So maybe it's a bit of a feeling of kinship with everyone who was there yesterday even though I'm a kajillion miles away.

To everyone who was there in Beantown - congrats and can't wait to read all about your races!