2020 Boston Marathon Thread (Read 408 times)

Not that we need more endorsement of club buses but yes, yes, yes.  I took the yellow bus in 2016 when it was warm and sunny and you just sat there getting cooked in athlete's village since the school buses tend to get you there much earlier than club buses.  I took the club bus (CARA out of Chicago) in 2018 in the monsoon and was pretty thrilled to have a dry place with a bathroom to hang out until the last possible moment.  Plus, as others said, they took my gear back to the hotel which felt more convenient than trying to identify my gear check and collect in the finish corral.

 Yep. I won't say never

I will. But I don't have a qualifying time anyway so that's like saying I'm not going to a party that I wasn't invited to.

As an event, Boston was absolutely spectacular. As a race nothing about it is runner friendly, and I mean nothing. The weather, the course, the logistics, the cost of the entire thing, that blazing ass sun, that 10 mile long finisher's chute...okay fine, 5 miles long.

(the logistics aren't really all that bad for what it is they're doing, BUT, you kind of have to mention it when you consider you could be racing instead of waiting around as the temps climb from the low 50s to the 70s)

To say I had a rough day would be like saying Michigan roads have a few pot holes here and there. But putting that aside, I think the people who love it and adore it, love it and adore it. No problem with that, I would jump at the chance to accompany someone else running it but for me? One and DONE. Well done in fact.

How would someone who is not local go about reserving a spot on a club bus?

Last year my plan to get to the start was to get dropped off where the shuttles take you to Athletes Village.  When I asked before at the Expo, the volunteer told me that for the 1st wave there would be maybe a 5 minute wait for drop off, and I added a bit of a buffer, but clearly not enough.

Whether due to the weather or something else, traffic was jammed on the highway, and it wound up being 45+ minutes.  Eventually I just got out of the car on the highway, jogged the mile or so to the exit, and then tried to get a shuttle but they were all jammed up.  I found somebody who was jogging right to the start, and I joined him.  Since I skipped Athlete's village, I saved some time, but I still had to jog most of the way to make it in time.  I think I wound up with a 3 mile warmup, which was definitely not ideal.  Show up early.

I don’t know what the official qualifying time buffer this year is, but it must be more than 1:46. That’s how far under my qualifying time was but I saw my payment was no longer “pending” on my cc, and it appears they have an entrants list posted. No official email yet. Bummed!

 

Good luck to the rest of you squeakers.

BAA has said the credit card hold means nothing.  Banks will only hold the charge for so long before it disappears.  The people on the entrants list were all week one registrations.  Historically the e-mails and announcement have come either today or tomorrow and nobody knows anything yet.  I'm waiting for my notification too!

“So you’re saying there’s a chance ...”

Thanks for your experience and knowledge. It gives me HOPE, so I will try to remain patient with fingers crossed.

 

BAA has said the credit card hold means nothing.  Banks will only hold the charge for so long before it disappears.  The people on the entrants list were all week one registrations.  Historically the e-mails and announcement have come either today or tomorrow and nobody knows anything yet.  I'm waiting for my notification too!

 

Word on the internet is a 1:39 cutoff.  I have not received my e-mail yet though.  Congrats, man!!

Holy cow. That's nutty! I wonder if they will tighten things up again.

MTA: I guess that's not bad, right? I'm losing my mind.