I’ve noticed a recent trend: non-Boston qualifiers wearing Boston Marathon merchandise. There are many controversial topics within the running community so let’s just go ahead and add this one to the list. Should you be wearing Boston Marathon clothes if you’ve never qualified for Boston?
We all know it’s a free country and you can wear what you want, but wearing a Boston Marathon shirt says something. It says, duh, you qualified for Boston.
Except that lately it doesn’t. The Boston Marathon, with its record sellout time, has become the Harvard (Stanford?) of marathons. It’s prestigious and difficult. We all want to feel talented, special, and accomplished. Run Boston and you’ve achieved what most marathoners see as the equivalent to earning an Ivy League degree in running. Wear a Boston Marathon shirt and people will assume you qualified, even if you didn’t.
As with all controversial topics, everyone has an opinion. My personal opinion: you should run it to wear it. In the spirit of honesty, let me confess that I have not run Boston. And until I do, I will not sport the blue and yellow. Much like I have yet to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii - close, but no cigar so far - and thus will never wear anything from that race. I proudly wear gear from the other Ironmans I have raced - but will not wear Hawaii gear until after I not only race it but finish it.
When I first started running/doing tris, I saw a commercial featuring a series of runners looking euphoric as they crossed a finish line. One woman fell to her knees to kiss the ground while the caption across the screen read, “There are three words every runner lives to say: I ran Boston.” I remember this ad not for its Boston Marathon reference but for the feeling of "coolness and respect" it evoked. Much like the feeling I get when I see the finishers cross the line in Hawaii...might as well throw "envy" into that feeling as well!
When you aspire toward a goal and achieve it, the feeling is undeniably sweet. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been able to capture this feeling. I say one hand because moments like these are rare. They usually come after much suffering and self-doubt - like "racing" as opposed to "finishing" Ironman. They come after I’ve quite literally run on faith, and left every ounce of effort on the road. This is what the Boston Marathon is all about. It’s not about looking cool and enviable in a fancy shirt. It’s about earning a special and rare moment.
My good friend Billy H once met a guy who had an Ironman tattoo on his calf - but hadn't done the race [telling Bill he "planned to..."]. What a dick.
My good friend Billy H once met a guy who had an Ironman tattoo on his calf - but hadn't done the race [telling Bill he "planned to..."]. What a dick.
For those of us who will never win a marathon, the Boston Marathon, much like the Ironman in Hawaii, serves as a realistic goal worth striving for. It is the promise of improvement and achievement that motivates so many of us to move every day. Without these promises, training would be meaningless, and without earning a goal, a shirt is also meaningless.
And besides - now that I am an aging Masters runner, I only need to cruise thru a 3:30 to get to boston. If I can't run a marathon at a pedestrian 5 min per km pace - 8 min miles to my yankee friends - then it is time to hang up the spikes. Maybe Boston next year - who knows?
peace out
Johnny boy
p.s. - and don't even get me started on those who wear the race t-shirt in the very race the shirt is for - before they have finished. Racing Rule # 207: you cannot - CANNOT - wear the race tshirt unless you have finished the race. You don't finish - you don't wear the shirt; just the BM clothes - if you don't compete in, and finish, Boston - YOU DO NOT WEAR THE KIT!
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