Tomorrow marks 4 years of running, a milestone my younger self would have had a great belly-laugh over if given an inkling of the future. “Huh? I’m going to do what? And love it? You’re shittin’ me, give me my money back.”
What was I doing before I ran? Who was I?
All I remember is that I had lots more cellulite and didn’t care too passionately about anything. And while I’m slightly embarrassed by how much this simplistic activity owns me, I’d now be a bored, ugly blob with nothing to look forward to had I not found it.
Instead, I have a wide circle of real and imaginary friends who share my passion, I’ve reasons to travel, goals to shoot for, an excuse to write, a little extra money in my pocket, a crazy good sense of well-being and an unsated urge to find out what’ll happen next. There’s actually more stuff than that but the sentence was getting too long.
All this, just from putting one foot in front of the other. I’ll never be less than amazed by it.
Information Overload?
Apparently not. According to the comments on my last post, the majority of you do read the splits and other data, so I’ll keep on with it as usual and let the skimmers skim and the skippers skip. Thanks to all who piped up. Wish I had you people’s patience. :-) So now let’s all cross fingers that the numbers I post this year have some sort of downward trend. If not, I’m going to start skimming over my own numbers.
I bought an iPhone
I was tired of saying “I suck at texting” due to my lame hunting/pecking skills and the idea of having a keyboard with actual punctuation at my fingertips was a dream I could no longer deny. Not writing like a 12-year old (Ill call u 2morrow) was imprtnt 4 me 2.
I did have a lot of back and forth between Droid or iPhone but in the end, battery-life, not having to root the phone (which I would have done because I’m always compelled to mess with such things) and some specific apps made iPhone the winner. I LOVE this thing, even if I do have a deep disdain for all things Apple.
I’ve downloaded a bunch of apps already. The Zipcar one rocks, I can now lock and unlock a Zipcar with my phone and do other useful Zip things, but my favorite is TuneIn Radio that lets you search any radio station in the world by genre or location. Yesterday I was listening to Alternative music stations in Paris, Sydney and London. You can even pause, rewind or record. Way cool.
Also excellent is the Netflix app since I already have a streaming account. This makes me want to have more dentist and doctor appointments so I can watch movies in waiting rooms. Just because I can.
An FE!
This last Sunday, I had the pleasure of having an FE (Forum Encounter, where you meet a forum friend in real life) with my long-time MRT 3:20 posting buddy, ESG/Ron. This was the second time we’d met, the first being last year at the Boston Marathon when he hosted a wonderful pre-race party for the 3:20 crew.
On Saturday, he completed his first Ultra (woohoo, Ron!) and had a few hours of layover in Philly. So I stole him away from the airport to share some cheesesteak goodness at Tony Lukes. No surprise, the conversation was easy and overflowing as if we were well used to seeing each other in real life. Good times, good times.
New Boston Marathon Qualifying Standards and Sign-Up Process
The running world was abuzz yesterday when the BAA published its updated qualifying process for the 2012 Boston Marathon and AG qualifying times for 2013 (5min. less per each AG). The new sign-up for process for 2012 will go in “waves” according to how fast you are. Faster runners get to sign up first followed by a 2-day spread for the subsequent waves. Here’s the full link.
| Date | registration opens for runners with times… |
|---|---|
| September 12, 2011 | 20 min. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender) |
| September 14, 2011 | 10 min. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender) |
| September 16, 2011 | 5 min. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender) |
| Second Week | |
| September 19, 2011 | All Qualified Runners |
| September 23, 2011 | Registration closes for qualified applicants |
| September 28, 2011 (appx) | Qualifiers from entry during second week of registration are notified of their acceptance. |






I think they are not cutting 5 minutes off the times until the 2013 race, although it looks like not many folks with under 5 minute margins will get in for 2012.
You’re right about the amazing consequences of putting one foot in front of the other. We started at about the same time, and I’m loving it too.
Ah, thank you for the correction, I fixed it in the post. Not being a marathoner anymore I only paid Half attention.
I think it’s good they tightened the qualifying time. I’ll make enemies now with these next few comments, but the qualifying times have not been impressive for a long time; the cachet of it has been diluted. You want a “Q” to brag about, try “Olympic”. In any event, my hope was that they would change the registration window till after the NYC Marathon had been completed. People using Chicago and NYC as qualifiers will be shut out and I thought it odd that they wouldn’t wait for the results of the other two major fall US marathons.
I think part of the reasoning for this year’s registration (for 2012) is people who ran both of those races got shut out for this year’s race.
“All this, just from putting one foot in front of the other.”
It’s a beautiful thing.
“’d now be a bored, ugly blob with nothing to look forward to had I not found it.” <– I. Love. This. Can I quote you at some point?!
hizzah to iphone. i LOVE mine. and i hate all things apple too.
Virtual, not imaginary friends! I swear I exist.
Running is life-changing, both latitudinally and longitudinally, if you follow. It betters your day, and your life. Congratulations on your anniversary.
I only started running last summer and am about to run my 3rd 5k this Saturday… but I feel the same way about running already… so crazy that I love it so much! Happy Anniversary!
Happy anniversary Flo! My friends love their iPhones, but like you, I hate how Apple tries to take over my computer. Don’t forget to search for 666canberra (our station) on TuneIn.
We must’ve started running at the same time. My younger self would’ve had the same reaction as yours. I remember in high school wondering why in the heck anyone would want to run 7 miles. Oh how perspectives can change!!