The Boston Quafier Lie

[dave rockness]

I guess I can kind of see where eveyone's coming from, but I'm still cool with running Boston for charity.  I think if a few dollars gets to charity because someone's drooling to run in Boston- great!  It's not going to ruin my experience.   

[Paul (RivertonPaul)]

I had an acquaintance at a social event announce he was "running Boston" this year.  I only felt a little bad for him when he lost some face with all the others he was trying to impress were less impressed when they found out he didn't run the qualifying time to get in and confessed he was getting in through a business exemption.  Can you believe it, he wasn't even raising money for a charity. 

[Maurine Lee]

I did have a friend run  Boston for Charity one year - but I was okay with it because she has participated in the setup and in the Medical tents for 20+ years as an RN - so I thought it was cool that she could get back a little after giving so much. Plus - she put in a relatively credible 4:25 for a first marathon on 6 weeks ramp up to get in.

I was shocked to read in Runner's World this month that only 40% of the actual Boston runners have done a BQ time.  I guess I thought the number of charity entries and 'gimme' entries was much less. 

However, I personally will not run Boston unless I qualify because I want to say that I 'earned my spot.'

[Matt Konold]

I could be wrong, but I thought the article mentioned that about 20% of the runners are for charity, and that about 40% of the people that run Boston (both qualifiers and charity runners), run a BQ time at Boston.

[Maurine Lee]

Matt - thank you for pointing out the error of my percentages.  You are correct.