I wasn't aware of the vision issue. I have a lazy eye and my vision is somewhat contricted too. Our race frequency is similar but you've run larger races than I have. I only brought up the garage because that environment is unique to running in public and very different from competition, expecially crowded events like Boston. It's mind boggling to me how people PR that course. Bravo. And unless you're in the very front you're not going to be able to run the shortest [official] distance.
Youth Has No Age. ~ Picasso / 1st road race: Charleston Distance Run 15 Miler - 1974 / profile
Runs4Sanity
Julie, I am sure you are short.... and blind in one eye? If I was you, I wouldn't run in big races at all lol, and I most likely wouldn't be running trails either.
LTH, I love the liberty I have now, though I know I would most likely regret it and wish for more security if anything preventable with more security were to happen to my family or worse of all my son. I do my best to protect him, and avoid situations that are obviously dangerous and out of my control. Boston last year was out of anybody's control, and if I or a family member were there in the mess and injured, I am sure I would be filling very different about security. It sucks that we can't have both in good amounts, but unfortunately one must be greater than the other in this world.
*Do It For Yourself, Do It Because They Said It Was Impossible, Do It Because They Said You Were Incapable*
PRs
5k - 24:15 (7:49 min/mile pace)
10k - 51:47 (8:16 min/mile pace)
15k -1:18:09 (8:24 min/mile pace)
13.1 - 1:53:12 (8:39 min/mile pace)
26:2 - 4:14:55 (9:44 min/mile)
Thanks, Mike and Moth. Having a great pacer to run with certainly helped me a lot.
Andrea, you are right, trails would be dangerous for me, I'm a real klutz. Sometimes I almost trip on my damn TM, even... Yes, I'm short, 5'3", but my height has never presented a problem in my races. I think being short and smallish allows me to squeeze in between runners when I want to pass them. Unfortunately, half the time I manage to run on someone's shoe and they yell at me.
LTH, that was a great post on freedom vs security. It made me think. I think in Canada, we also value freedom greatly, but more the freedom of our society rather than the freedom of the individuals who make up that society. I don't know if it makes sense. Just my theory... Anyway, I plan on running Boston again in the near future. It is definitely a special place.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
I am like 5'3" as well, once I manage to gain confidence in squeezing past people, I'll enjoy my shortness a little more. I miss my chances sometimes and then regret it. Sadly, I am the one getting stepped on sometimes, I try to avoid the Clydesdales as I don't think they see me :P
Perhaps it was as simple as "holy crap we don't have room for almost 1000 marchers on the course"...
http://www.runnersworld.com/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-course-could-not-accommodate-marchers
Maybe for the cynics this is a good excuse (and one that should have accompanied the initial announcement) but I think it makes some sense. Please read the whole article but I've copied this part:
Schwartz said there has been more flexibility in past years but the number of ruck marchers in prior years has been much smaller.
“It wasn’t about them posing a threat,” Schwartz said. “No body is going to be on the course with backpacks. Even if they didn’t have backpacks there wasn’t enough room.”
The B.A.A. has formed a partnership with the National Guard of Massachusetts and has provided 130 official bibs for soldiers.
“The Guard will register those people and they will all be required to follow all of the same rules as runners,” Schwartz said.
The National Guard members will begin their march around 6 a.m. on Marathon Monday and will have a staggered start, marching along the course in single-file groups of 10.
“We’re very comfortable that the number is small enough,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said it is unfortunate the B.A.A. and MEMA did not make the rules earlier, or else they would have been able to communicate with groups planning to march.
“It’s unfortunate that by the time we developed the rules some of these groups were way down the path of signing up marchers and putting together trips and plans,” he said. “We were not aware of the numbers.”
So it was exactly what I said in my first post: Too many people on the course.
You are pretty clever for a garage runner. I have just never heard this term before.
Former Bad Ass
Especially since everybody wants to run it this year.
Damaris
Everyone also wants to watch it. For years a lot of non-runners in the area looked at it as a traffic nuisance. It isn't a paid holiday for many of us, so many stay at work. Boston does have big crowds despite that, and this year will be interesting from that standpoint also.
KillJoyFuckStick
Moth, part of my problem has to do with the fact that I'm almost officially blind in one eye. Wearing glasses cannot help in my case. Having vision only in the left eye makes it more difficult for me to navigate on a crowded course. I had no problem in Chicago, with 40,000 runners, because the road was wide. Boston was different for me. Oh and 13 marathons, 8 HMs, a dozen 10ks and 5ks, all in the last three years and many of them "big" races, few local ones. The garage is no longer an issue for me.
Fellow cyclops checking in. After running 1 RnR mega event I've stayed away from mega events. But if/when I ever do qualify for Boston I'll just tether myself to your back so I don't plow anyone over.
You people have issues
Wise decision, though if it were me I doubt I could keep up with her.
This is a good idea. Lily, will you be running it in 2015?
I can just imagine all of us attached to a rope, in a file. And then in the end, it's a mad dash to the finish line because we all want to finish ahead of the others.
Yes, I'll probably be there in 2015. I might as well, while I can.
I can just imagine all of us attached to a rope, in a file. And then in the end, it's a mad dash to the finish line because we all want to finish ahead of the others. Yes, I'll probably be there in 2015. I might as well, while I can.
I would offer to guide you if I wasn't a lot slower.
Interestingly enough I met a guide last year from Toronto. I was a volunteer by Wellesley College and a guide hung out with us as he was running the last half with the blind runner. He guided a woman who was expected to finish around 5 hours so wouldn't have been there in time. I thought of them when I heard about everything.