Alternate methods for Boston Entry

William Jenks

The unfortunate, but not hard to anticipate, has happened.

My son, who ran valiantly in his first marathon last May and made the Boston time standard by only a narrow margin, has been declined entry to the race.  I qualified later and by a larger margin and was given entry. Our plan, of course, had been to run the race together.

I am thus considering what my alternatives are.  I am aware of the charity entries, but I have never done such a thing, and am frankly daunted by the idea of being responsible for $4000.  Moreover, I don't have any idea how hard THOSE spots are to get, either.  Nor do I know anything about the so-called corporate spots, though I assume those are not really an option.

Does anyone have experience with the charity spots in this or related races?  Or any other suggestions?

I'd be most grateful to hear.

MattAaronson

My wife did a charity sport to the Chicago Marathon a few years ago but only had to raise $1k. It was easy and she ended up getting almost $3k in donations from people she never expected. Of course what goes around comes around and now she has to write $100 checks every time the mother of some kid in our daughter's class wants to run a 5k for a cause.

One resolution to this is that you don't run it together next year. He will continue to improve as a runner and may quailfy next year. You will for sure qualify pretty much any time you want.

Hey, maybe I'll be lucky enough to joining you in 2015.........

William Jenks

Yeah, I'm sure he'll improve...and of course you're right that we don't have to run together this year. But it was kind of an emotional thing, and he was the one who worked so hard to qualify...I just did a couple extra long runs and kind of cruised in. I guess part of it is being Overprotective Dad, but another part says I should let him take the knock. But I also feel bad because I just one-offed it and he had to work his butt off. I don't like one-upping him. It's his turn to do that to Dad, not the other way around.

MattAaronson

Yeah, but dad is older and Boston standards favor the old!!

William Jenks

That they do. For what it's worth, if those age-graded calculators are right, the time for a 49 year old to make the 3:05 is 3:21. it's almost losing a minute a year at my age. But anyway, it's still a few minutes "too easy" relative to the youngsters even if those tables are fair.

Satish Punna

I think John Hancock is still sponsoring the 2014 race.  Do you know anyone who works for John Hancock?  When my wife was working for a JH subsidiary up here a few years back we were offered Boston entries by her company  (which we declined- my wife qualified all on her own and it is still a dream for me). 

Anu Rao

I have heard several of the running clubs in the area have entries. That might be a route to go.

I wish they did something different for first timers and let them in when they qualify. Heart breaking to get just under the time and not be able to run Boston.