I know there are some runners on this board, I just wanted to see how many are running Boston this year.
This will be my first Boston. I qualified with my second marathon last year, with less than 3 minutes less than my age qualifier time (3:37:15 - needed 3:40:00 for the 55-59 year old male standard). I’m thrilled to be there, and training has been tough this winter.
Not running this year, I ran in 2011, but I’ll be volunteering at the starting line - herding runners into the corrals. It’s an amazing experience, this year even more special. Enjoy the run and don’t go out too fast! The first 3 miles are serious downhill and with the crowd, adrenaline, and long wait to the start you can easily go out too fast. You’ll need your thighs later on. 
Congratulations **DirtyHippy **and I wish you all the best!!
I fully admire people who can dedicate themselves to training for Boston. I ran the Victoria Full Marathon last year (40 years old, 5:27:52) and I found the training to be the hardest part. Also the fact that my knee blew around 10K and my race was pretty much a half-marathon run then a half-marathon fast painful walk. I vowed NO MORE FULLS until The Dopey in 2016. My plan is to work towards qualifying for Boston when I’m 80, lol.
Haha nope…no chance that I’ll EVER qualify, that’s quite an accomplishment!
Enjoy yourself
I ran as a fundraiser - it was my first marathon actually. You can run Boston without qualifying (something I’ll never do either) and still have the experience. I’m glad I did it, but I’ll never run a spring marathon again - have to give up too much skiing for training.
See, I did not know that…you always hear “Boston” and “qualifying” in the same sentence, I never thought about it twice!
My cousin ran it last year and had a great experience, right up until. . .well, you know. Fortunately, he qualified to start with an early group, so he was finished and had left the immediate area before the explosions. I think he’s hoping to run it again at some point, but not this year.
Congratulations on qualifying!
It’s been a tough winter to train, but I’ve done a Spring marathon for the past 3 years, so I’m kind of used to it. It’s almost like a part time job. I looked at my mileage charts, I’ll have over 200 miles done in just March.
In a couple of weeks, a group of us will go up to Boston and drive the first 20 miles, then run the last 6. (I live in Connecticut, so not too far.) Even that will be exciting!
I guess I’m a bit of a late bloomer. I started running at age 52 after a lifetime of being a couch potato, and ran my first road race the day before my 53rd birthday. This will be my 7th marathon.
Congrats! I have runner “friends” unsure of their Patriot’s Day plans.
I’ll be running away from the Boston Marathon, if that counts. 
It has nothing to do with what happened last year, and everything to do with what happened to me the year before. Somehow, I missed all of the city banners and completely failed to realize when or where it was happening. I tried to go shopping downtown that day, and discovered I couldn’t cross the street for 26 miles.
Have fun, guys. I promise to delay my errands this year, so as not to cause you any inconvenience. 
Wow. You are fantastic. I thought I was a “late bloomer” when I started running at age 36 after a lifetime of couch-potato. You have my utmost admiration!
On the age flip side, I will be attending the race supporting my son who is running. The whole family is coming out to Boston from California.
If they don’t have a bib, tell them that being a bandit this year will be very difficult. It’s probably not worth their efforts if that’s what they have in mind.
I picked up running at age 45 although I had done limited running earlier in life. Ran Boston 3 years later, and my first 50K a few months before my 50th birthday. I think the timing was perfect - I managed to avoid wearing out my knees in my 20’s and 30’s.
I couldn’t run the 26 miles, but I found out last year about a group that rides the course on bicycles the night before. They even had special train service to take them (and their bikes) from downtown to Hopkinton. I thought it sounded like fun.
This year, no train and it’s being actively discouraged. It’s in the name of security, I think, although I don’t see what about that makes the marathon any less secure.
It’s not like I’ve never seen the course, though. I used to live in Wellesley and have ridden it a couple times.
Heard that. No, my “friends” are legit runners.
I think they don’t want anyone possibly planting something on the course or interfering with security that close to race time. It’s a bummer since it looks like it’s been a fun event. I used to go ride 52.4 miles on Patriot’s Day, but no where near the course.
Okay, but are they gonna close down the whole course a week in advance and sweep it start-to-finish with bomb-sniffing dogs or something? People live, work, drive, and shop on those streets until right before the event. If someone was going to plant something nearby, there are easier ways than on a bicycle.
Yes, but the bike ride is the night before, when they’ve already started locking down and patrolling the course.
Why are their plans uncertain, then?
Robot Arm, you sound awfully suspicious with your protests.
I’m working that day, as usual. Hoping for a less eventful work day than last year (I work at a hospital in Boston). I think people are going to be tense and we’re doing a lot of wellness activities and having extra EAP counselors available.