Tuesday, April 15, 2008

6 Days To Boston...

Yep...6 days until the 112th running of the Boston Marathon. Not that I'm running it, mind you. Still, it's a banner day for our sport.

I'm willing to bet that most people, even those who don't know what a marathon is all about, have some familiarity with Boston. It's a true classic, and has a long and storied history (read more about it here). Not too long ago I finished reading one of those stories--John Brant's excellent story of the 1982 Boston Marathon entitled Duel In The Sun. If you haven't read it, I recommend it highly.

I know what it takes to qualify, and I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for those who do. I just don't see myself ever getting the hallowed qualifying time of 3:20, based on my current age. In fact, when I'm 80 the qualifying time will be 5:00--heck, I'd feel happy to run a 5:00 marathon now! Unless something changes radically, my participation is going to be limited to watching it on TV.

There's going to be tons of coverage through all kinds of media outlets. The Versus network is going to be showing live coverage. There will also be streaming coverage on the World Championship Sports Network at WCSN.com. Steve Runner is recording a podcast during the race, and you'll be able to monitor his progress via his website.

Even if you don't watch the whole thing, or can't catch it live, you should at least take a look. There's truly nothing like it--especially the finish.

Just curious, y'all--any of you shooting for a Boston Qualifying time? If so, best of luck...

Run strong friends!

2 comments:

Lelani said...

I have a second cousin who ran the Boston Marathon; that's probably the closest I'll get! ; )

Thanks for checking in on my blog and your encouraging words. A cheering section is always inspiring.

Checked out your photos; nice! I have a photo blog, too. Scroll down to the "better" stuff. My phots are like my running: mostly for my own enjoyment and won't make the news anywhere. LOL

jtj3 said...

Heck, you're closer than me--Steve Runner (mentioned in my post) is the only person I know who has/will run Boston. Well, except for a good friend of mine who ran it as a bandit. Story for another day...

Thanks for checking out my photo blog--love yours, too! I'll add you to my blog roll and stop by--please do the same with mine! Same here, my shots are totally for my own enjoyment!