Well it used to be a privilege to run it. You actually had to qualify and the times were somewhat competitive. Now every Tom , Dick and Harry get to run aka charity. Sorry not that impressive anymore except for watching the frontrunners. Like anything, it’s about the money
Surely your question is not actually about wondering, unless you have little grasp of the world. Everyone knows why people covet Boston…the difference is really if people believe that the “why” is worthy enough.
I can all but guarantee you're born and breed in the U.S and think the world is the U.S. As a non American who doesn't follow all your history it's a legit question. I bet if I asked you a similar question about some foreign marathon in a country you didn't know all the history of you would give a blank stare lol
I've always wondered why the Boston marathon is so popular when the course is not legal for actual marathon records or even true personal bests for the average runner. Do you think it's more due to it's long history which gives it a real element of prestige? I just know that for so many marathon runners (including myself) we're a very self competitive bunch always aiming for a new PB. For Boston however, it's always going to have that asterisk next to your time where it can't be counted officially compared to a legal course.
I grew up in New England, so I don't know any better in that it has been the gold standard for any footrace here. People who don't know anything about running at all know all about the Boston Marathon.
When I was younger the other major Marathons had been in existence 10-20 years but Boston was nearing 100 years starting around the time of the first modern Olympics. It's an institution.
If you read the book about Ellison "Tarzan" Brown you would get a really good feel of what the race was to the greater Boston area in the 30's and 40's with stories of Clarence Demar, Les Pawson, and Johnney Kelley. The true story of Heartbreak Hill in Newton. How the Boston papers would make their predictions after the North Medford 20 miler. The entire region was into it at a time the rest of the World could care less about the distance.
Nobody here cares and most don't even know that it goes downhill.
Surely your question is not actually about wondering, unless you have little grasp of the world. Everyone knows why people covet Boston…the difference is really if people believe that the “why” is worthy enough.
I can all but guarantee you're born and breed in the U.S and think the world is the U.S. As a non American who doesn't follow all your history it's a legit question. I bet if I asked you a similar question about some foreign marathon in a country you didn't know all the history of you would give a blank stare lol
You're asking a question about a US race on a website heavily frequented by US runners so yes, most of us follow the sport in the US a lot more closely than we follow it in Poland or Turkey, etc. If you're a non American who doesn't follow our history it is a legit question and you've gotten several legit answers. As to the blank stares you'd get if you asked a similar question about some foreign marathon, I suspect you'd be right because as far as I know there is no foreign marathon that's been run for anything like all but two of the past 126 years. So I'll ask you, is there such a marathon?