Back to Boston

Last year's Boston registration was something of a fiasco, with demand outstripping supply and many qualifiers not registering early enough to gain entry. (It didn't used to be this way -- for my first entry, I qualified in January and signed up in February, the year of the race. US v. AMR Corp. got in the way, though, and I didn't run that race.)

This year they changed to a process of rolling registration. On Monday you could register if you had qualified by more than 20 minutes. On Wednesday you could register if you had qualified by more than 10 minutes. And we more-than-five-less-than-ten-minute qualifiers had our shot today. The normal qualifier entry starts next week, if there is room left. Under this approach, there was a real chance I'd be shut out, but I'm in.

I was pretty hopped up, so I headed out for a celebratory run. Out Nebraska to Oregon, then following the bike trail north along the western edge of Rock Creek Park to Wise Road. Follow that to Beach Drive, then back south toward Military Road. The bike trail following Military to the west climbs steeply from the creek to the top of the hill near the stables. That climb will feature strongly in my winter workouts, with eye to the brutal climb from mile 20-21 in Boston. I tried out the new ultralight Saucony Kinvaras, which -- if they continue to feel as good as they did today -- will be my shoe in Boston.

It's nice to feel excited about something, again.