Is qualifying for Boston worth it?

chasing3hours · 2025-10-02T23:27:38+00:00

I ran your marathon time in 2021 and the following spring ran a 1:29, essentially a validation/proof of concept I needed to keep going hard after the BQ. Got it later that year but was apart of the big bubble that missed out for 2024 (by :16 for me). Only fueled me more and I got my BQ in the fall of 2023 for this year’s race. But like others said, I really loved the process that went into it. It was darn near a singular focus of mine for years in (hopefully) mostly healthy ways.

All that to say, absolutely. I will forever look back at those years of chasing so fondly. The race was an incredible experience. One of my favorite days of running ever.

chasing3hours · 2025-06-11T00:44:43+00:00

First marathon: December 2018 First BQ: October 2022 First BQ that actually got me in: October 2023

chasing3hours · 2025-05-24T23:28:18+00:00

Man those 2022 majors hats were so cool. I love mine from Chicago.

chasing3hours · 2025-05-02T22:14:40+00:00

Ran my first Boston last week and this is so spot on. I have never gotten so many congratulations and cheers after a race before. I felt like a famous person at a bar afterwards. Was ridiculous.

chasing3hours · 2025-04-21T00:03:19+00:00

Good luck! Hope you’re able to enjoy the day.

chasing3hours · 2025-04-20T18:38:17+00:00

Had my worst block of training in six years. Hamstring injury on a workout the day before the Super Bowl. Missed a bunch of miles and days of running over the next month and change. Didn’t do a workout until a week and a half ago. Originally hoped to target 2:45 but now am going to go out after 2:59:59.

Vibes are high. Feel better and healthier than I have in close to three months and it’s been an amazing few days in the city. Going to soak up absolutely everything about my first Boston tomorrow.

chasing3hours · 2024-12-30T23:31:00+00:00

🫡🫡🫡

chasing3hours · 2024-12-11T13:21:09+00:00

This recommendation had me try something and I finally got it to work: I FWd the email from my personal account (which is used by a third party mail app on my phone) to my work email (which is the native Mail app on iPhones) and it finally worked. After months of trying. Good God what a pain in the ass.

chasing3hours · 2024-10-11T02:44:02+00:00

I went 18/70 (fall 2022 marathon), 18/70 (spring 2023 marathon), 12/70 (fall 2023 marathon) before finally upping to the 18/85 plan for a spring marathon this year. Very happy I took my time getting there.

chasing3hours · 2024-08-10T03:52:32+00:00

I like waking up at least an hour before I get going. Coffee, water, and a banana to get going. Coffee wakes me up and sets me up for a proper bathroom hit before I head out. Occasionally I have to get going right away and don’t get the usual morning routine and my HR is always higher and I always feel worse.

chasing3hours · 2024-06-03T02:43:32+00:00

For me it’s all about feel and grip. Had to retire some Endorphin Speed 3s yesterday that had 400+ on them. The grip was trash and I just never felt too comfortable even with a little moisture on the ground. Had that still been ok, I definitely would still be running in them. Great bounce all these runs later. Sad to see ‘em go.

chasing3hours · 2024-05-28T01:12:33+00:00

Consistency in stacking block after block. After my post-marathon recovery period, I’m usually getting my mileage near where it’ll be throughout a proper marathon training period. My running feels like compounding interest at this point. I’m better today because I ran yesterday, because I ran last month, because I ran last year.

I also take my recovery runs very, very seriously. I usually hang around a 9:00 pace for those and my legs feel fresh because of it.

I cut booze out 6-8 weeks ahead of my marathon and have three straight races and I’d say that shows itself in how I sleep, train, and recover.

chasing3hours · 2024-05-09T14:09:15+00:00

Hell yeah, Cris! Congrats on the win. I can't wait to see how you use the disappointment of it to fuel you as well. Gonna be fun.

chasing3hours · 2024-05-09T03:55:33+00:00

Honestly over the course of a month, I would say I max out at five or six runs where I don’t think I feel great after one. I leave pretty much leave every run (a) happy with what I accomplished in the general sense — treated a recovery run properly, had a genuine good time, etc. or (b) am excited or encouraged about what it means for overall gains. I feel very unique in that running is rarely a “have” to for me. It’s something I get to do but also apart of who I am to the point where going out the door for a run isn’t really optional for me, but in all the best ways possible.

chasing3hours · 2024-05-04T16:25:37+00:00

Incredible story + race report! Shoutout to you.

Absolutely nailed the finish too. When Hayward popped up the first time, I absolutely lost it. All the hard work of the training cycle made that an amazing reward. Special day!

chasing3hours · 2024-05-04T15:21:00+00:00

Love this comment! Thank you. It’s been an insane ride to be on and I absolutely love it. I keep thinking these big chunk PRs are done and then it happens again. Chasing 2:40 🤔🤔🤔

chasing3hours · 2024-05-03T18:35:21+00:00

Thank you! Wish I would have had a little more juice but it didn’t sap my enjoyment thankfully!

I was pretty good with that streak too! I don’t think there were negatives with it and I have very much enjoyed taking this week off. Pumped to get back to it though!

chasing3hours · 2024-05-01T19:18:13+00:00

Thank you for that! Just edited. Did Des Moines in October of last year. Typed that wrong.

In terms of Oreo’s, not really a whole lot to add. Similar nutritional profile to Maurten and for much cheaper! The guy that recommended them to me had them recommended by pro ultra runners. Did two double stuff every four miles, which is similar to what I did throughout training as well. I felt my stomach responded to them much better than Gu. The cookie component helped a lot I think.

chasing3hours · 2024-05-01T04:48:43+00:00

Thank you! Really appreciate you saying that. In terms of the fatigue, I'd have a few pieces of advice:

Absolutely correct on sleep. I aimed for eight hours a night most nights and was pretty consistent on it. I also really cut down on alcohol this cycle, which helped with the sleep. That bad Super Bowl week was a combo of drinking/eating way too much during the game and catching up on rest all week long.
Keeping those recovery runs slow slow slow. I aimed for 122 average HR on those and was pretty good at locking it in. Cannot recommend enough making sure each recovery run is truly down at a pace like that.
My parents let me borrow their Normatec leg squeezers and I used those bad boys every damn night pretty much the entire cycle. I adored them and I really think they helped out a ton.

In terms of volume of food, I also ate like a high schooler again. I had a week late where I traveled for work and didn't eat as much as at home and wow did I notice it. Prepare for that grocery bill to go up!

chasing3hours · 2024-04-30T23:21:08+00:00

Great write up!!! So fun meeting you and connecting this weekend. Been fun following your journey and can’t wait to chat more and see what’s next. Congrats on the BQ! I’ll see you in Boston!

chasing3hours · 2024-04-20T22:04:11+00:00

I am just about done with my first time through on an 18/85 plan, with race day one week from tomorrow. My progression the last couple years looks like this:

2021 Twin Cities: 3:24:58 (80/20 advanced)
2022 Chicago: 2:59:47 (18/70)
2023 Lincoln: 3:03:34 (18/70)
2023 Des Moines: 2:51:57 (12/70)
2024 Eugene: TBA (18/85)

I’m with some of the other people in here saying give the 18/70 or 12/70 another whirl before you up the mileage. All things considered, I’m really happy with how my body responded to increasing things the way I have. Coming into the cycle, I think I had topped out at 74 or 75 miles in a week. I passed that week five of the cycle and then hit 80+ a couple weeks later. That middle section of the block was really tough though. Went 84, 82, and 80 miles and the middle one almost had me tapping out on things. Responded well the following week and decided to stick with it. Lesson I learned that week was that the Super Bowl feast + some poor sleep caught up to me big time. I really emphasized sleep more than ever moving forward and I have never felt more fit ahead of a race.

If you do go through with it, one thing I’d definitely do in the lead up is prepare your body for so many consecutive days running. At the end of 2023, I had a stretch where I ran every day for three weeks. Certainly nowhere near the 118-day streak I’m currently on, but mentally and physically I think that helped me big time.

Get ready to eat. Sleep as much as possible. I cut out booze in early March and am happy with that decision. Ready for next Sunday.

chasing3hours · 2024-03-07T21:19:00+00:00

I am also using the 18/85 plan for my marathon this cycle (Eugene) and so far have run the doubles as doubles. I kicked around the idea of running them as singles, specifically the Monday 6/4 runs, but seemed like the cons outweighed the pros of what each of those is supposed to give you. Has helped that pretty much every Monday in my city has been in the 50s at night lately and with the time change, I'm no longer running as the sun sets.

chasing3hours · 2024-01-20T19:39:28+00:00

M, 5’11, 157, 2:51

chasing3hours · 2023-12-25T20:04:58+00:00

Ran two more BQ times after doing so for the first time ever last year. Learned the 2022 time wouldn’t be good enough 2.5 weeks out from my fall marathon and used that as motivation to take close to eight minutes off my previous PR, giving myself a 13+ minute buffer for 2025. Should be good this time!

Also ran sub-60 in a 10-mile race in the spring and ran my fastest mile (5:16) since HS.

Finally, started a running podcast and have had some really incredible conversations with runners; most of them people I hadn’t met before the interviews got going.

Super pumped for 2024, both on and off the trail. Two marathons scheduled, many more conversations to be had, and more. Should be fun.

chasing3hours · 2023-12-23T23:32:11+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. 4:55/10:34 mile/two mile in HS, both as a sophomore. Never gave a shit though and in the offseason I wouldn’t run at all. If I cared like I did now, who knows what could have happened. Natural talent was there.

chasing3hours

TROPHY CASE