2023 Boston Marathon bibs are out

Elites do not ride a school bus. Nor do they mill around the village.

I ate next to jos hermens and a few of his athletes at chipotle a few years ago

I don’t think that’s right. It’s simpler than that.

There are 8 corrals to a wave. The corrals are determined by which thousand it’s in.

Examples:
201 to 999 = Wave 1 corral 1

7000 to 7800 = Wave 1 corral 8
8000 to 8999 = Wave 2 corral 1

Its 9 corrals. You guys aren’t visiting the link or reading the posts in this thread. 9 corrals per wave. 7800 runners wave 1. 8000 runners wave 2-4. Im “guessing” that the other 200 bibs missing in wave 1 are disabled and elites that won’t be starting in wave 1.

It's 8 corrals per wave. Wave 2 eg:

(1) 8000-8999; (2) 9000 and up; (3) 10000 and up; (4) 11000 and up; then starting with (5)12000, (6)13000, (7)14000 and (8)15000

For people who have run before, how bad is the congestion in the first few miles? I qualified with a 2:47, which puts me at the back of corral 2/front of corral 3 depending on who in this thread can be believed. I'm in much better shape now and I'm expecting to run sub-2:40, but now I'm a little concerned about either getting stuck behind slower people or using too much energy trying to move up early.

I qualified with a 2:48 last race. EVERYONE went out fast. Took about 19 sec to cross start after gun sounded. It was not congested. My bib was in the 1500’s. I was about 2:38 pace through the 20k until i blew up and tons of people were still flying by me. You want to take the first few miles slow anyway. The first downhill is VERY aggressive. You won’t be stuck behind slower people.

I'll 2nd Disko Eric's statement- you'll be fine.

Had a buddy in 2014 in Corral 2 who passed me in the first mile when I was in Corral 1. Most people in Corral 1 will be going out at Sub 2:40 pace I'd imagine (as I mentioned you needed a 2:42 or faster) and everyone always goes out a little hard on the downhill.

I think this will be my 6th. I’m no pro at it and my training has no organization. But I highly recommend taking those first few miles to soak it in and find your pace. Sure there will be slower people you have to dodge, but it’s better to start slower than be a social media hero the first few miles.

To the question, those first 2/3 corrals are all people that qualified with a 18-20min 5k pace for marathon. They won’t be slouches off the line. Lots of pride, testosterone and showing off. I think corrals 5-9 will be hit and miss and there will be some weaving.

I qualified with a 2:43, I think Ill be in Corral 2. Will be shooting for Sub 2:40. Figure I'll aim for 6:00-6:10 pace, probably closer to 6 on the downhill sections so I can granny gear the uphills.

I assume we line up by corral but it is a continuous flow the entire wave (ie no 2 min gap between corrals in a wave), is this correct?

There's no gaps between corrals. There are barricades/volunteers separating each corral within a given wave as people start to fill into the pens. With maybe 60 seconds before the gun the volunteers move out of the way and basically remove any separation between the corrals. There's always a few nervous nellys who will then immediately start pushing forward to attempt to move up. Ignore this. It's just wasted energy. If you're in corral 1 you'll reach the start line in less than 20 seconds at the slowest. Corral 2 probably takes maybe 45s max. Even in corral 3 you're with people who are looking to run no slower than 6:30 pace. So no one is going to be shuffling the first 200 meters.

The bib pick up pass they just sent out has your corral number on it

Happens up in the first corral too. I was out for the first couple miles in 5:51-5:46-5:40 from the back of corral 1 and people were blowing by me. When I passed them back in the later miles it was pretty comical how slow they were going. The race isn't won in the first couple miles but mannn do some people throw their race down the drain right away.

Anyone in this thread shooting for sub 2:30?