All in Running
As the sun rose over downtown L.A., we ran out of Dodger Stadium, north and west toward the finish in Santa Monica.
More than 23,000 of the men and women lined up in Hopkinton for the start of the 2019 Boston Marathon will be there having run under an age-specific time threshold in another marathon, which shows just how unremarkable qualifying for the Boston Marathon really is. And yet, if you ask any of the 500,000 Americans who will run a marathon this year (and many of the million-plus marathoners in other countries), qualifying for Boston - a ‘BQ’ - can be a bit of an obsession.
Practically anyone who decides to run a 5K could do it tomorrow. It’s 3.1 miles - an easy hour-long walk for the non-runner who wants to get out there and pin on a bib. I have two daughters who run, and one who doesn’t, and all three of them are at the starting line most Thanksgivings for an annual turkey trot.
I asked other runners to reflect on what the BQ means to them. Read their incredibly thoughtful comments here.