Houston Marathon (Jan 19) too late to qualify for Boston 2014?

I think Scott Wietecha signed up for Boston after he ran Houston this year. Although it probably helped that he ran sub-2:20 and was the 2nd American finisher

For 2013, the signup was in October I think. Day 1 of registration was for those who beat their qual time by 20 minutes or more. Day two was for those 10 minutes fast. Last day was for everyone else, and they let people in by how much they beat their qual time. I think if you qualified by less than 3 minutes you didn't get in this year. So, no, if you want to run Boston 2014 I would not look to Houston. Better do one earlier. I am not sure if Chicago was held in time last year, but it was close. Run early, and better beat your time by 5 to be safe.

To clarify, for 2013 Boston the registration was in October of 2012, and it filled on the third day for those whose qual times were less than ten minutes faster than the standard, and only those who beat the standard by about 3 minutes or more got in before it filled. They haven't said if they will do it the same this year, but it seemed to work well.

Wrong. You are confused with the 2011 Registration for the 2012 Race. The field for this year's race took much longer to fill up. Probably the result of the tighter standards.

It filled a few days after Chicago this year (a few days after reg opened for everyone who had the standard, but by less than 5 minutes).

It'll probably do so again next year, although they haven't yet announced their registration dates.

Nope, Houston won't be early enough. Chicago will probably be the last major race where you have a chance.

Yes, January 19 will certainly be too late. They announced yesterday they'll open registration in "September" (didn't give a date yet), and it could very well sell out immediately.

Back in the day it didn't used to fill up until ate February but in recent years with the growth of marathons in sells out a lot quicker.

The good news is you could use the qualifying time for Boston 2015, but if you want to run it next year you'll have to find one in August or early September.

I think Boston is going to be a tough ticket for 2014 - they'll have to allow many from 2013 back in automatically, no? And many others will just want to be there.

I found a little local marathon with a USATF course near me - $50, done deal. Question is how much I should try to beat my bq time by - my bq time would not be a challenge to me (I'm old), butI don't want to thrash my legs either. And just squeaking in might not work.

probably if I beat it by 5 minutes I'm good.

Does anyone think the BAA might do what they did for the 100th Boston Marathon and let in a certain number of non-qualifiers through a lottery, in addition to all who qualified?

Expand the field to ~40,000 like they did in 1996 to show the world how "united" we are and able to come back strong after the tragic events of this year?

I think it would be great if they allowed next year's race to be a HUGE celebration. Maybe add more waves. I realize this would take the cooperation of all the towns along the course and would add further stress to the lodging, etc. ancillary things, but still...

Considering the added security next year, increasing the size of the field is probably the last thing they'll do.

Wow. A lot of wrong info here. Boston 2013 registration open on September 10th and did not close in the first two week ordered by time registration period. It closed about a month after it first opened.

And yes Houston is too late.