After seeing the forecast for Monday, it looks like we'll have yet another Boston Marathon in miserable conditions. I ran the race last year, and for the first time in my racing life, I didn't enjoy the experience, simply because it was too cold and wet to think about anything else. While this year won't be as bad, I still feel for the runners who worked so hard to toe the line.
Having the Boston Marathon in mid April presents so many weather variables that it's impossible to fully prepare for. And it seems that mid-April weather has become increasingly volatile in New England. After watching a few friends bonk from the heat in 2016, I spent a good portion of last winter doing sauna sessions to prepare for another potentially hot day. When you live in a cold climate, as most runners do in the winter, all of your training is done in freezing temperatures (not to mention in the dark, on icy roads, etc.). That makes racing in 70-degree weather pretty difficult.
And it's no secret that the qualification window for Boston is also very awkward. Fall marathons won't qualify you for the upcoming spring, so you're stuck waiting a year and a half to race.
Is it time the Boston Marathon switched dates with the BAA Half Marathon in October? While New England fall weather isn't always perfect, it's at least a lot more consistent. Runners could train over the summer (with more daylight and on roads that aren't icy and slushy), and qualifiers could run fall marathons to lock in for the next year's race. Obviously there would be a lot of logistical hurdles to move such a huge event, but the extra six months the BAA would have to reorganize would at least give them a head start. Tourists love fall in New England anyway -- the race would be that much more appealing.
