For years now I've run this little project where I survey people who have qualified for the Boston Marathon. There are now well over 300 responses from all ages. As we all start planning the next year of running goals, I thought I'd share this again:
https://miloandthecalf.com/the-bq-questionnaire/
Let me know what you think, or share you story!
Interviews with over 300 runners who've qualified for Boston
Training Advice/Discussion
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Very nice and inspiring!
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Thanks, hope its helpful!
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Hey that is great. Fascinating reading. Thank You!
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Hey, thanks for this. I'm attemping a BQ in two months so the timing is perfect.
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If you qualify for boston you ARE an ELITE runner!!!
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Fair enough! But some are really really elite!
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Thanks, hope you contribute!
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I just wasted a bunch of time reading these, very helpful.
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Thanks for posting this. Would have been nice to have the runners who started running as adults with no cross country/track background in a separate list.
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Thanks for the kind words! You should be able to sort by years running and whether the person ran in college or high school on this spreadsheet:
https://miloandthecalf.com/the-bq-questionnaire/the-boston-qualifier-questionnaire-the-data/ -
Thanks for the response and pointing out how to access that data. Cheers!
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I hope it's useful! If you're trying to BQ, good luck!
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The most interesting thing to me is the height/weight ratio:
LB/inch #
3 1
2.8 3
2.7 2
2.6 6
2.5 17
2.4 17
2.3 32
2.2 55
2.1 40
2 38
1.9 26
1.8 20
1.7 6
1.6 1
1.5 1
This says if you want to BQ you should be 2-2.3 lb/inch, so if you're 5'10" then 140-170, with most being in the 2.2 lb/inch range. -
That's an interesting way of looking at it that I hadn't thought of before. While there are some outliers, you're right that almost everyone is within the same range.
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Just Average wrote:
The most interesting thing to me is the height/weight ratio:
This says if you want to BQ you should be 2-2.3 lb/inch, so if you're 5'10" then 140-170, with most being in the 2.2 lb/inch range.
I ran Boston in 2017 and 2018. The above fits me. I am typically 165 lbs when training for a marathon and I was probably at or just below 165 for Boston. I have gotten down to 158 to 160 twice in the last few years but only seem to hold that weight for a few weeks at most. I am 6' 0". 2.2 lb/inch is 158.4 lbs. 2.3 is 165.6. I am in my mid-50s with 4 marathon times in the 3:10 to 3:25 range. -
miloandthecalf wrote:
That's an interesting way of looking at it that I hadn't thought of before. While there are some outliers, you're right that almost everyone is within the same range.
Indeed. I'm happy to be an outlier, 2.75 pounds per inch (5'11 @195 when I ran 304, age 38) -
I managed to BQ at the age of 56 @ 158 pounds with a height of 5"7. It looks like so many that are my height weight in the 140's or less. I guess weight isn't everything. I couldn't imagine being lighter.
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Just Average wrote:
The most interesting thing to me is the height/weight ratio:
LB/inch #
3 1
2.8 3
2.7 2
2.6 6
2.5 17
2.4 17
2.3 32
2.2 55
2.1 40
2 38
1.9 26
1.8 20
1.7 6
1.6 1
1.5 1
This says if you want to BQ you should be 2-2.3 lb/inch, so if you're 5'10" then 140-170, with most being in the 2.2 lb/inch range.
I wonder how these stats would look if broken down by sex? I ran my fastest marathons at a ht/wt ratio of 1.6, and I'd guess that most elite female marathoners are somewhere close to that. Of course BQ can be far from elite. -
miloandthecalf wrote:
That's an interesting way of looking at it that I hadn't thought of before. While there are some outliers, you're right that almost everyone is within the same range.
That's one of the LEAST interesting things I've ever read. I don't need a study to tell me most runners fall within a certain range of height/weight ratio.
