Boston marathon question

In the past you could improve your corral assignment if you ran a faster time prior to their assigning corrals. I assume that's still the case.

Even if you can, I would still advise against it, unless you had some dramatic improvement. Reason for this is that in the Boston Marathon, with such a deep field and downhill first miles, you will start too fast anyway - or at least everyone around you will.

You can update your time until February I think. They'll let you know. And there is advantages of moving up corrals, especially if you improve a lot.

The course is so crowded, that even in the first corral you can still go out "slow"...

How fast (typically) is the first and second corrals?

To get into Corral 1, in past years it has taken about a 2:55 or better.

I have raced in Corral 1 the last few years, and the back of the corral is usually where I start and run, and it goes out at 6min pace (2:37).

Goosinator wrote:

How fast (typically) is the first and second corrals?

After the elites there are nominally 1000 people per corral. You could estimate the cut off time of the Nth corral by looking at the times of Nth x 1000 finisher to get a rough idea. Something like 2:55 and 3:04

If you meant "first and second wave" rather than "first and second corral" then I think the break is around 3:30 and change.

Any idea what is considered elite at Boston?

Goosinator wrote:

Any idea what is considered elite at Boston?

I claim no special insight, but I have a friend who was a minute or two shy of the women's OTQ who did the elite women's start a few years back. For men, I'd guess it's similar, that is, sub-2:20ish might get you an elite bib number.

Chicago has a reputation for being a lot more friendly to sub-elite performers with their "top 100" program.

Yes you can still move into a faster corral and yes I would highly advise doing so. When I ran my first Boston 2 years ago, EVERYONE warned me about going out too fast. What I discovered was that it was impossible to go out too fast when there are so many runners crammed into such a narrow road. My first 5k split was much slower than I wanted and it was really frustrating but there wasn't much I could do, even though supposedly everyone else in my corral was the same speed as me.

People who have run 10 or more Bostons in a row should have got an email today saying they can register from August 20th to August 30th.

If you have done 10 in a row and didn't get the email, you should get in contact with the baa.

Goosinator wrote:

Any idea what is considered elite at Boston?

Based on my own and friends' experiences:

To get an elite bib, men have to be under 2:30 for sure, maybe faster. For women it's 2:50 or 2:55.

The Boston Athletic Association recognizes current qualifiers who have successfully completed the last ten Boston Marathons (2003 through 2012, inclusive).

We invite those who have completed the last ten consecutive Boston Marathons AND who have met the new qualifying standards for the 2013 Boston Marathon to submit entry for the 117th B.A.A. Boston Marathon through an early registration process.

If you are receiving this email, you have been identified as a participant who has completed the last 10 consecutive Boston Marathons. You may make take advantage of this early registration opportunity provided you have met the qualifying standards for your age and division for the 2013 Boston Marathon.

On Monday, August 20, you will receive another email from the B.A.A. that will include a secure link and password combination enabling you to submit your early registration.

This early registration option will be available to you beginning on Monday, August 20 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time through Thursday, August 30 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

This preregistration invitation is exclusively for your use and may not be transferred. This email and the associated secure link and password combination may not be transferred and will be deemed invalid for use by any other individual than for whom it was intended.

If you do not register during this two-week period, then your entry will no longer be guaranteed through the open registration period, which opens on September 10, 2012. Entries submitted from September 10 onward will be accepted as per the B.A.A.'s registration process described on the following link:

Last year they told people not to run and I thought they said if you picked up your number and didn't line up to race that you would get a number for 2013.

Then I heard people who registered and didn't show up still are going to be able to get a number this year.

What was the final decision on that?

Will it impact qualifying times?

Last year didn't you have to run something like 1:30 or 1:50 faster than the qualifying time to get a number?

With the faster qualifying times, will all those who run the new qualifying times be able to enter? Or will the number of people who didn't run last year who will get a number make it so that people will have had to run faster than the new faster qualifying times to get a number this year?

It came out a few days after the race that only about 400 had picked up their bibs and did not start the race.

So those 400 are guaranteed entry into 2013...but they still have to pay. In years past, they have used a "special" red paper entry form that needs to be filled out and mailed in.

I know someone who did not go to pick up their numbers who was emailed information about registering for the 2013 race.

I don't know if he was emailed in error or not. It sounded like he thought he was guaranteed an entry even though he did not pick up his number.

The potential critical question is, did the BAA decide to allow everyone with a 2012 number (regardless if they picked it up) who did not start a guaranteed entry to the 2013 race?

Goosinator wrote:

Any idea what is considered elite at Boston?

In order to start in front of the rope at the front of the first corral, you have to have run about 2:28 or faster, or at least that was the case 10 years ago. They have, or at least used to have, "red-dot" elites who got to start right on the line, and "green-dot elites" who were about 40 yards behind the starting line -- in effect part of the first corral, but guaranteed to be at the front of it.

Understand that I am operating on oldish info that a fairly fast (2:23) friend who ran the race several times as an "elite" told me when I asked about this.

For the 2012 race, you had until Feb 1st to update your qualifying time.

Q:

If I improve my Boston Marathon qualifying time, how do I submit it to the B.A.A.?

A:

If you improve your qualifying time from the time you used to register, please send the name and date of the marathon at which you improved your time, by February 1st, with your updated time to

registration@baa.org

.

Once verified, it'll be applied to your entry. Registrations cannot be updated after February 1, 2012.

Actually I believe 2160 deferred. See here:

http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/blog/2012/05/boston_marathon_announces_tota.html

Last year you had to go 2:49 or faster to get into the first corral. There are only 900 numbers (100-999) in the 1st corral, 1000 in the rest.

2160 - that is a lot of people.

Say 500 aren't interested in doing it this year.

So that reduces the number of qualifiers by about 1500 or so. That is a pretty good sized number.

I, too, now wonder if a runner will have to run faster than the 2013 qualifying times to earn a number.

Will 1500 or so less people qualify with the 5:59 tougher standard?