A lot of people do Boston with a charity entry.   Lots of great causes that you can support to run it, if you really want to - it's about $5K worth of fundraising.

The mythical unicorn of running has definitely had my eye for a few years, just out of amazement mostly.

Do you have to raise the $5k before being able to qualify, or  before the day of the race? Is there a link to a website where I could find more out on this?

For my age group, the time limit is 3:40:00 (8:23). Now, I comfortably do my easy runs between 9:10 and 9:32, 9:40 when I feel like a pile o'crap. I raced a five-miler in Cambridge twelve days ago in 42:21 (8:28). It convinced me that, with more time and training, I might BQ and run Boston before I'm forty.

It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great. (In the words of the Tom Hanks character from A League of Their Own.)

Not to demean the charity route, but as a runner I think the ultimate goal is to qualify on time.

What makes you think you can never qualify? You are young, you have plenty of time if that's what you decide to do (and are able to stay healthy...). I have less time and I am still way off, but I was somewhat encouraged by this thread from one of the main boards. People posted their first marathon time & their PR. Someone did an analysis (on the page I linked), while although not statistically sound, was interesting. Of the people whose first time was 4:00-4:30, the average was 4:17. For that group, the PR was 3:24. My first (and only so far) was 4:16. BQ time for my AG is 3:25. Voila, there is hope! (And even more in 2 years when my BQ time is 3:30!)

It's supposed to be hard... The hard is what makes it great.

TWSS

It's not out of reach... It's right there for you to grab. If you're a bit of a natural, you only need about 50 mpw. If you're not a natural, you might need 70-80 mpw. Add to that speedwork, the right weight, the right diet and some good nights of sleep and you're set, you have your sub-3:35.

I think there is an assumption among those with a bit of talent that all it takes to BQ is hard work.  That is not correct.  For most people, it take a lot of hard work and a decent bit of talent.  For some, it takes an enormous amount of work to overcome the lack of talent and for a few, it takes not much work at all.  Still, I go into it assuming a person has average talent.  In that case, I would ask you to do the following before insisting you'll never BQ.

1.  Get your BMI below 22.  No, BMI isn't a perfect indicator of fitness but weight is weight and the less you carry around, the better off you'll be when it comes to distance running.

2.  Run over 2,500 miles per year for at least two years.  There is no substitute for mileage.  None.  That weekly stuff we banter about matters much, much less than your mileage over time.  It's easy to get your mileage over 50 mpw for a few weeks.  It's hard to average 50 mpw over a year.  You need weeks of 70+ miles to make up for weeks in which you are sick or the kids are sick or you have to work late or whatever.

3.  Do at least one speed session per week over those two years.  I don't mean just easy speed stuff like strides and fartleks.  You need those as well.  I'm talking about 6 mile tempo runs and 12 mile marathon pace runs and 3-4 miles of VO2max workouts.

4.  Do strength stuff like planks and hill sprints and strides and form drills in addition to the speed sessions.

5.  Do at least one run of over 2 1/2 hours each month over that two year period.

If you do that and you're still not close to running a BQ, then it is entirely possible you don't have the talent for it.  That's not a value judgement.  I clearly don't have the talent to compete even on a regional level in my age group let alone on a national level.  We all have our talent level and it is what it is.  Still, if someone is running 20-30 mpw and rarely doing speedwork, I don't buy the assertion that you'll never BQ.