Qualifying for the Boston Marathon

Today was the 114th running of the Boston Marathon. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot won the race in an extremely fast course record time of 2:05:52. To be able to break 2:06:00 on the difficult Boston course is really incredible. Americans Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi also made news coming in 4th and 5th respectively. Hall actually ran the fastest time by an American ever at Boston – 2:08:41.

It’s great news to see two Americans finish in the top 5 in Boston. It really feels like we are getting closer to seeing an American win Boston for the first time since 1983. Although Hall finished nearly three minutes back, he is such a young runner with so much potential. Additionally, there are such great training groups in America right now, from the Hanson’s group, to the Nike Oregon Project, to Hall’s Running USA group. The hope is that these groups will pay big dividends in the next few years.

Besides the elite runners, thousands of other runners participated in Boston this year. Each of these athletes hit strict qualifying standards in the last year. The entry standards are part of what make Boston so unique – paying the entry fee will not give you a spot on the start line; you have to earn it. Because of its privileged position in American running, planning on running the Boston Marathon is one of the best motivational tools for runners.

If you are thinking about trying to run Boston next year, the best races to run to achieve a Boston qualifying time were the following in 2009 (courtesy of marathonguide.com):

These courses either are flat, have good weather, and/or provide excellent pace makers. Definitely consider running one of these if you want to give Boston qualifying a shot.