Boston

I have a confession to make! I applied to Boston 2012 and didnt tell anyone. Not sure why i kept it too myself, I guess incase I got rejected so I could slink off quietly.

In Munster I ran a BQ-5 qualifying time, Whilst Boston had allways been at the back of my head, I didnt realise that Münster could also be used as a qualifying race until Henning a friend from DM mentioned that he was using it to run a BQ time. Id originally planned to try and BQ in Spring 2012 at the Düsseldorf Marathon.

Ive also been planning to fly home to New Zealand sometime soon, so with a little prod from Ryan i investigated the possibility of combining the two... The plane ticket to come back via the US isnt significantly more expensive than returning over Asia... so on the spur of the moment i submitted my application.


Dear Paul:

Please make note of your Submission ID #: 2011960.

Thank you for submitting an entry to the 116th B.A.A. Boston Marathon. It is important to note that your Submission ID does NOT constitute entry into the race, but confirms that your entry has been received by the B.A.A.

September 16th

With a BQ-5 I was able to apply on the 16th. On the 19th i was happy to hear Henning had also submitted his application.


Then its a game of wait and see. I was under the impression that the last block the normal BQ times was still a first come first served system like the previous year. Unfortunately I heard via DailyMile that it wasnt, that this year the set a cutoff time of 1:14 faster than the base BQ time in each age class. Which means that Henning recieved a rejection email.... I was also sad to hear another great runner friend from DM Javier also recieved a rejection email, he missed the cutoff by 1 second. That really has to hurt.

I received a conditional acceptance, The BAA registration office needed a copy of my race certificate from Münster, with a translation of the details on it so that they could verify the qualifying details id submitted.


Dear Paul,

Thank you for submitting your application for entry into the 2012 Boston Marathon.

Upon verification of the qualifying time you submitted from an international race your application will be approved for acceptance.

September 23rd

So I emailed them the pdf certificate you can download from the Münster Marathon web site and my translation of what was on there. I still wasnt sure i was in, would they accept the Münster Marathon as a valid qualifying race? This morning my doubts have been laid to rest.

Dear Paul A. Henry,

This is to notify you that your entry into the 116th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 16, 2012 has been accepted, provided that the information you submitted is accurate.

A Confirmation of Acceptance card will be mailed to you via US Postal Service mail in October.

September 30th

So it appear that i need to start organising my travel and accomodation plans.

I have to admit that i do feel really bad for the guys I know that applied and got rejected, It would have been really great to have caught up with them either prior or post race to chew the fat and tell tall stories about our running deeds. But i know that both Javier and Henning easily have BQ-10's in them and that if they want it they will be able to qualify in the coming years, tighter qualifying times or not.