Show HN: Will I run Boston 2025?

charliebwrites wrote: post #4

Anything 2:50:00 or below is 100% and anything 2:55:00 and above is 0% Is this actually accurate or did I find a bug? If not, such a weird 5 minute window

The 0% above 2:55 makes sense at least since it's the BAA's new cutoff this year for males https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify

Re: Show HN: Will I run Boston 2025?

#6

Post by qmatch » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 11:13 PM UTC

lilfrost wrote: post #3

It looks like my 5:32 time does not qualify me :(

Try adjusting the slider! Gives us hope.

Re: Show HN: Will I run Boston 2025?

#7

Post by kibitzor » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 11:20 PM UTC

Context for those not following running news, The Boston Marathon lowered qualifying times for most prospective runners for 2026 race [0]. Because the Boston Marathon has limited capacity, you can only run if you either:

1) raise $5k+ for a charity (limited spots)

2) run a full marathon below* a qualifying time

The reason it's below* is because even if you run under a qualifying time, there may be enough people even faster than you that fill up the available spots.

This results in some years where you needed to be many minutes faster than the posted qualifying time to guarantee a spot, and every few years, the BAA (group in charge of Boston Marathon) drops the qualifying times.

Note, even though the qualifying times have been dropping, they have been even faster in the past (see the 1980s)[1]

As someone that's done the Boston Marathon a few times, I am glad they are trying to find a good balance of reasonable qualifying times for the most participation without dramatically expanding the field. I'm also always surprised with how popular and well known this marathon is given the NYC marathon (and others) are harder to get into, only about 2 of the miles are actually in Boston [2], and the start/finish are so far away making participating a logistic headache. But that could be what gives it the charm and why I'm now thinking about doing 2026

[0] https://apnews.com/article/boston-marathon-qualifying-times-...

[1]https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify/history-qu...

[2]https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-marathon-route-ma....

Re: Show HN: Will I run Boston 2025?

#8

Post by ggm » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 11:23 PM UTC

Maybe the question is: should you run the Boston Marathon

  In 2016, a systematic medical review found that the risk of sudden cardiac death during or immediately after a marathon was between 0.6 and 1.9 deaths per 100,000 participants, varying across the specific studies and the methods used, and not controlling for age or gender. This translates to a few published marathon deaths worldwide in a typical year, although the authors lamented the lack of a central registry for the information.

That said, the Boston Marathon has a lower presence in the marathon-death-tables, the bombing aside: That's really not relevant to this. So, if you want to take the aggregate risk (which is between the risk of fatal insect sting, and lightning) of all the Marathons to chose to run, Boston is one of the better ones.

Re: Show HN: Will I run Boston 2025?

#9

Post by zeroonetwothree » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 11:24 PM UTC

lilfrost wrote: post #3

It looks like my 5:32 time does not qualify me :(

If you get that down to 5:10 and are an 80+ female then you're golden!

Re: Show HN: Will I run Boston 2025?

#10

Post by mauvehaus » Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 11:37 PM UTC

lilfrost wrote: post #3

It looks like my 5:32 time does not qualify me :(

I have a friend who is something like a 6-hour marathoner and has run Boston a couple times for charity. The experience is pretty subpar to hear her tell it. The college students are pretty intoxicated by that point, the organizers are starting to clean up the course and move the runners to the sidewalks, and the course is full of trash where they haven't cleaned up yet.

The porta-potties don't have a lot to recommend them either once 30-something-thousand people have come through ahead of you too.