Boston Bound

I was out running with one of my buddies this past weekend. During the run, he was telling me that his application for entry in to Boston had been accepted. Of course, I gave him a huge congratulations.

Getting in to Boston has always been hard. Getting in with with limited capacity had to be harder. He made it with a few minutes to spare.

This will be his first time running Boston so he started asking my a ton of questions. I had to laugh. He was thinking that the hardest part was behind him. When in fact, i think hardest part is in front of him. 

Once you get in to Boston, then you have to start all of the logistical planning such as how to get there, where to stay, where to eat, how to get to expo, how to get to the starting line, how get back to hotel afterwards. Add to it, he is thinking about making it a family trip so he just made everything a bit more complex. 

Like I said. I think qualifying is easier.

We also talked about my experience in the race, and I had nothing but good things to say. Running Boston tops all other races that I have run as far as an experience.

I sometimes think about making another attempt to return Boston. But it was during our conversation that he said something to me that I had never crossed my mind. 

What ultra event would be the equivalent of Boston. A number of high profile ultra races exist, and a number of them require qualifying times to gain access or some type of lottery or points system to access. Now, I am thinking of active occurring events here.

So if I had to pick one event from a prestige point of view, I would have to say the Western States 100 miler. Much in the same way that Boston has a  folklore surrounding it, from everything that I have heard about Western States, it has a similar folklore. In many ways, I would say that getting in to Western States is harder than getting in to Boston. Then, this is to be expected. Western States only has, I believe, 3 to 4 hundred runners vs the thousands at Boston. 

Would I run Western States if the opportunity presented itself, definitely, yes. However, I don't see it happening. That's okay. There are many other races out there, and they need some love too. 

The Cool Down Runner