Thursday, March 4, 2010

26 miles, 385 yards!


The First Boston Marathon on April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York, emerged from a 15-member starting field and captured the first B.A.A. Marathon in 2:55:10, and, in the process, forever secured his name in sports history.


Been doing a little jogging the past few months…okay, I been doing A LOT of it. I set a 2010 goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon on May 29th. There I said it! You know what they say..."tell people & write down your goals".

Boston is kind of a big deal in the running world and becoming a bigger deal for a non-running type of a guy like me. This event is something I have known about for over thirty years, but never have wanted to pursue it myself until now. Well, there are many, many reasons why I want to run in Massachusetts and some beyond explanation without two beers and a few minutes of your time.

A local qualifying event, the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City is where I plan to do it. My age group is a tough group of competitors. A time of 3:15 is mandated to qualify. In September of 2010 I will still have to submit an official time with my application for the 2011 event that limits the field size to 25,000 entries.

The Boston Marathon is always run on the third Monday in April and is the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon. The day has been coined has "Marathon Monday".

2 comments:

Todd Shorkey said...

Do it, Todd. You know you have what it takes and that you can get it done. So do we.

You will leave with memories that will last a lifetime. My brother-in-law ran Boston for the first time in 2002 and finished with a 3:04:09. We still hear stories about the trip, the race, the experience. Live the dream Brother!

chunky dunker said...

I love goals! And this is a great one. I know you will nail it without any problems... When you make it and leave for Boston, make sure you bring your bike. The riding around there is world class!!