I can’t believe that I actually get to write this…I will be
running the 2014 Boston Marathon!!!!!!!!!!!
Registration opened on September 9th, but for the
first week, it was only open to runners who had beat the qualifying time by 5-20
minutes. I was unbelievably happy with my qualifying time (as we Boston
Marathoners call it, BQ) of 3:31:25, a full 3 minutes and 35 seconds faster
than I needed, but I was really nervous that the race would fill up before I could
get in. When registration opened for all qualifiers on Monday the 16th,
I immediately registered. But of course, I didn’t find out if I got in.
Registration was not first come first served, but rather continued to be based
on qualifying time. Registration closed on the 20th, but runners still
didn’t find out what the cut off would be. Did 10,000 people beat the
qualifying time by 4:30 minutes? Or were there a lot of “squeakers” who barely
made the cut off time? I didn’t know and I was trying not to worry. I consoled
myself – if I didn’t get in, I would register for BOTH the DC rock’n’roll
marathon and the Flying Pig Marathon. But of course…how would that compare to
Boston? It would be heartbreaking to qualify and STILL not be fast enough to
get in.
Boston Athletic Association announced that it would
accept/reject runners on Wednesday, September 25. So I woke up at 6:30am and
immediately started checking my email. Nothing. All morning long, I could do
nothing but hit refresh on my email and check my credit card account – a pending
charge was a good sign. If it went away, I probably would not be getting the
email that I wanted.
After waiting all morning, I decided to go for a lunchtime
run. It was a beautiful day and I managed to forget about registration for a
little while…until I got back to the gym where I immediately checked my email. The
top email was my ACCEPTANCE email!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Within 2 hours, I had my flight and hotel booked and I had
announced to everyone that I know (and some people that I don’t!) that I,
MarathonMennone, had accomplished the dream. I ran, I qualified, I registered.
I was accepted. I am in.
There’s no way around it – the 2014 Boston Marathon will be
bittersweet. Our hearts will be solemn as we stand at the starting line and I know
that we will all be looking over our shoulders as we cross the finish line. Not
because we’re afraid, but rather to acknowledge those who didn’t make it across
in 2013.
