Do you seriously think they are going to lower BostonMarathon qualifying stds for next year?

I hope so. America is in the midst of a huge obesity epidemic and exercise (along with the right foods) can help curb this. The more people we get into running, the better. If more people know they have a realistic shot of getting into Boston, the better (IMO).

stds, lol

Nope, I think standards will stay the same, but you can only race if you are selected in the lottery that I think they will institute.

I didn't know there was a ranking system for stds. Are you asking if since herpes was allowed in last year, will they allow a yeast infection (probably a non-qualifier for most qualifying marathons) this year?

never said there was a ranking system, did I? there are standards where you either made them or you didn't.

You forgot a few capital letters.

Your Doctor wrote:

I didn't know there was a ranking system for stds. Are you asking if since herpes was allowed in last year, will they allow a yeast infection (probably a non-qualifier for most qualifying marathons) this year?

Why do people always forget about us?

I have always considered that you should be able to run your local Marathon no matter how slow you are.I know that will clash with a lot of opinions here.

Compromise:You live in Boston and are a member of a running club-- automatic qualification.(that may already be the case)

Overseas runners.Bring a lot to the economy(I flew from Sydney and brought 3 with me,stayed a week and spent some hard earned).We qualified and that is the way it should be.

I don't believe we should get any concessions.

ALL Others:Qualify or run somewhere else.Unlike most other countries their is a Marathon every weekend somewhere in the U.S.

If people who have qualified are getting denied entry because of excessive participants then

it is time to look at changing qualifying times.

I never had a problem with the number of runners in 2003 but N.Y.C marathon 2005 had way too many.

Adjust qualifying times so that the new qualifying time is the average time of the last three years for the 75% person qualifying time for each age group. For example, if the qualifying time is now 3:10 and 75% of the people who qualified in that age group qualified by running 3:05, the new qualifying time would be 3:05.

Have the registration open in October. In January have a week window for people who registered a time to return their entry for a partial refund. If there are people who have run the new faster qualifying time and want to enter but couldn’t because the race filled up, those spots go to the new qualified runners. If there are still some spots open, run a lottery of people who have run the current (old) qualifying standards.

I think they will likely say you can use a qualifying time only one year at Boston. This makes sense to me. As it is now, I could use Malibu for twice and that doesn’t make too much sense if the race is too full now.

This ensures

1) The race fills up.

2) It decreases the number of no shows.

3) The faster runners will likely get in.

4) People know what they have to do to get in and for almost everyone, they will know the day of their marathon if they qualified or not.

The order of these three things is not of importance.

they should have 2 qualifying times. Open the faster qualifying time for 1 month and then open up any remaining slots until the field is filled. Make the open division under 40 would also be helpful.

I agree to the two standards but I'd want to try to get as many people to qualify in the faster standard so as many people as possible know the day of their marathon that they qualified.

I'd use the second standard as wiggle room to fill up the race and have a lottery for the open spots left.

But I'd also want a period when people who got injured can return their numbers and get a partial refund so those spots are free to be filled. Right now people register 6 months in advance so there will likely be a lot of no shows.

No, but they should. In 30+ years, we've regressed. Except for the top runners, people are slower than ever. The old qualifying standards in the 70s were modest: 2:50 for men under 40, for example. I am astounded how few can even do that.