Monday, March 25, 2019

SMART Goals to Qualify for the Boston Marathon


I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon to be able to run with my spouse who has already qualified. In order to make this desire more concrete, I need to set a goal, a goal that is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-constrained.

Each of the elements of a SMART goal needs to be Explored, which is the first E in the DREAMS Cycle ™.

Specific

In order to be specific in my goal, I need to find a race where I will attempt to qualify. Many marathons across the world are deemed Boston Qualifiers (BQ). These are races with certified courses. Many BQ lists are available for the US and Canada. I am fortunate enough to live in Ottawa where we have the Ottawa Marathon at the end of May and that can serve as my Boston Qualifier. When I started running over 30 years ago, I completed the Ottawa Marathon five times. It was always a great race. Lately, I completed the Ottawa Half-Marathon in 2018 which has some parts of the course similar to the marathon.

Measurable

This one is relatively straightforward. The distance is set at 42.2 km. For the times needed to qualify, the Boston Marathon sets these. The times required to qualify for the 2020 Boston Marathon are the following:

Age Group
MEN
WOMEN
18-34
3hrs 00min 00sec
3hrs 30min 00sec
35-39
3hrs 05min 00sec
3hrs 35min 00sec
40-44
3hrs 10min 00sec
3hrs 40min 00sec
45-49
3hrs 20min 00sec
3hrs 50min 00sec
50-54
3hrs 25min 00sec
3hrs 55min 00sec
55-59
3hrs 35min 00sec
4hrs 05min 00sec
60-64
3hrs 50min 00sec
4hrs 20min 00sec
65-69
4hrs 05min 00sec
4hrs 35min 00sec
70-74
4hrs 20min 00sec
4hrs 50min 00sec
75-79
4hrs 35min 00sec
5hrs 05min 00sec
80 and over
4hrs 50min 00sec
5hrs 20min 00sec

 

Won’t you know it, they tighten the times by 5 minutes compared to 2019. For the 2019 Boston Marathon, the times for my age group (55-59) were 3:40 and now it is 3:35. That makes my goal that much more challenging.

 

Achievable

The goal of running a qualifying time for Boston is not insurmountable; it just requires dedicated running and some good fortune. My past history would indicate that I should be able to qualify. After all, I did qualify in the past. Of course that was 20 years ago as you can find in my book, Take 10 and Reach the Boston Marathon. My most recent attempt at the marathon was the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2012 where I finished in 3:48:20. I need to cut almost 14 minutes from that time.

A recent indication of my fitness would be the half-marathons I completed last year in around 1:40, one in Ottawa in 1:40:21 and the other in Toronto in 1:39:14. Some predictors have you multiply your half-marathon time by 2.085 which would mean a 3:28:30 for me; that would qualify me. Another site, Slate, estimates a 3:52:30 marathon based on my half-marathon performance. That prediction is a little scary, as I would completely miss my time. Runner’s World also has a predictor which gives me a 3:32:25; still under the qualifying time.

Of course, the outcome of the race will really be based on the training that I will do before the marathon, as well as what happens the day of the race.

Relevant

The goal that I set for myself needs to be relevant to my dreams and desires, and my purpose. As described in a previous blog post, I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon to run Boston with my spouse again.

Time-constrained

When setting a goal, it cannot be vague and just be in the future. The goal has to be within a certain timeframe or else people would simply keep postponing. My spouse qualified for Boston when she ran the Scotiabank Toronto Marathon in the Fall of 2018. That qualified her for the 2020 Boston Marathon. I have till mid-September to qualify for the 2020 race when they normally open the registration.

 

Based on the 5 elements of a SMART goal, I need to Establish a SMART goal which is the second E in the DREAMS Cycle ™. Here is the goal I set for myself:

I will qualify for the Boston Marathon by running a sub 3:30 marathon at the Ottawa Marathon on May 26, 2019.

This goal gives me a bit of leeway. However, even if I am under the qualifying time of 3:35, there is no guarantee that I will get into the Boston Marathon. They have a limited field of 30,000 and in order to get in, you normally have to actually run faster than the qualifying times. This is what has been happening for the past few years. Wish me luck!

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Reality is what is between you and qualifying for the Boston Marathon

You want to qualify for the Boston Marathon. What a wonderful and invigorating desire! Now is time to face reality. To paraphrase John Lennon, reality is what happens when you’re busy trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Reality represents the second R in the DREAMS Cycle ™. Reality reflects what is happening in your life that will impact the achievement of your dreams. Two dimensions of reality need to be considered: The Dice of Life and the 5 L’s of Life.

The Dice of Life

The Dice of Life is just a metaphor for what life throws at you. More importantly, just like a dice, it has six facets that represent the six elements that will allow you to reach your dreams and desires. The six elements are: money, time, energy, opportunity, skills and support, in no particular order. In your lifetime, and at any particular time, these elements will be available to you in a certain quantity. How much of each you have and how much you need to achieve your dreams will determine where you need to spend your efforts to succeed and how successful you will be. Each of these elements will be explained in the context of qualifying for the Boston Marathon with personal examples related to my own attempt. You should explore how these relate to your own reality.

Money

Money makes the world go round. It is also something you will need in order to qualify for Boston. In order to run, you need shoes and clothing. You will also need money to register for a qualifying race. If you plan on traveling away from your home town to race, then you will need to spend additional funds.

Fortunately, running is not that expensive of a sport. I normally run in $80 running shoes, and simple shorts and shirts. Although race fees are getting expensive with most marathons above $100, this is still within my budget. Based on my current public service job, money should not be a major impediment for trying to qualify for Boston, unless of course I attempt to qualify in an exotic location like Hawaii.

Time

Training to qualify for the Boston Marathon takes time. You have to put in the distance; you have to log those long runs. You will need to dedicate at last four solid months to train properly. Unfortunately, the amount of hours in a day and in a week is limited, and you have other priorities in life besides running. Here is a video on time management that is worth spending time on: Ted Talks.

I am employed in a full time job. I also have a wonderful wife and three wonderful kids under 15. I also like to spend time writing stories, books and blogs. I figure that out of the 168 hours we each have in a week, I need to sleep, work and commute, pursue family obligations, take personal care like eating and grooming; I can thus only dedicate about 6-8 hours per week to running. Hopefully that will provide sufficient time to train (read this article on mileage people run for a Boston Qualifier). What I found over the years however, is that time will find itself for the important things in life. What defines the priorities in your life will be covered below in the 5 L’s of Life.

Energy

Energy will determine the amount of effort you can put into your training. The available energy you have depends on a few factors with the main ones being health and fitness, diet, and sleep. Of course, this energy gets consumed by other activities besides training, such as by work, chasing kids around, and doing household chores. Interesting enough, exercising takes energy, but it gives back even more in the long term.

My energy is divided between a few priorities. A major part is dedicated to my work where I can sometimes feel drained at the end of the day. Some of my energy is spent assisting the kids with their homework. I also find that dealing with simple daily demands of keeping up a household sucks up energy. During the week, I usually don’t start running until 7:30 pm when I am often tired. This leaves a limited amount of energy to put into the training runs. The fact that I am now over 50 years-old does not have as much of an impact as I thought it might as I have stayed healthy and fit for most of my life. I have had some injuries in the past that have curtailed my running, but right now I am injury free.

Skills

Skills relate to your innate abilities, as well as your developed abilities. Some people are born runners, while others are made. My firm belief is that with a bit of practice, most of us can become decent runners.

Personally, I am more of the made kind of runner having shown little promise when I was young. However, over the years, my running abilities have improved. I have been running for over 30 years. Throughout that time, I have gained experience and knowledge. I have complete 12 marathons, two 50K ultramarathons and a couple of Ironman Distance races. I qualified for Boston in 1996 when I was in my 30s. My last marathon was six years ago when I ran a 3:48. I believe I have the skills to qualify for Boston again.

Opportunity

Opportunity refers to the doors that open to you in your journey to qualifying for the Boston Marathon. These can be nurtured or more importantly grasped when they come up. To grasp these opportunities, you need to keep your eyes open and take action when you encounter them. Opportunities could be related to being invited to a running camp, or as simple as having a world class marathon in your home town.

For me, one of the opportunities is that in Ottawa where I live, we have a world-class marathon, the Ottawa Marathon. This race provides an opportunity to run a Boston Qualifier with few travel hassles. I also happen to work downtown and I have a parking spot in my building which makes the travel to the race site even simpler.

Support

Support for your dreams and desires comes for other people. These are your family, friends and co-workers. These are the people you can count on when you need help. They can provide moral support, financial support, and even liberate some time for you by taking care of some of your time-consuming activities.

I am fortunate enough to be married to my wonderful wife who not only supports me fully, but she is a great runner. We train together as much as we can and this inspires, motivates and pushes me to train at a higher level. My sister has also always provided encouragement for my crazy endeavors, encouraging me at many races.

The 5 L’s of Life

Life is comprised of more than just running. Other aspects of your life include work and family. These other priorities need to be examined to determine how they fit with your desire to qualify for the Boston Marathon. In order to determine how much of the Dice of Life you want to dedicate to qualifying, you will need to identify the other priorities in your life and how much they mean to you. This exercise starts with identifying your 5 L’s of Life: Labor, Love, Learning, Lifestyle and Leisure, again in no particular order.

Labor

Labor represents the activities that earn an income. This relates to being employed, self-employed or even retired. Work creates various demands on people related to, for example, available time, income, stress, and even opportunities. For me, my public servant job is generally restricted to normal weekday working hours. Only occasionally do I travel or work on weekends. This provides time to run before work, after work and on the weekends.

Love

Love refers to family and friends. Relationships must be nurtured to be meaningful and lasting. Depending on where you are in your life, you might have to make a bigger commitment to your loved ones. One of the most demanding times can be around the birth of a child and the first few years after. My children are growing up and getting more independent. However, during the school year, there are so many demands related to school and activities that it can become all consuming. This means that I often only get to run after the school work is done and the house chores like cleaning up after dinner are done. During the weekends, it is sometimes challenging to schedule the long runs around family and kid activities.

Learning

Since a large portion of people’s lives is spent at school or in learning situations, this will affect the time you have for training. Studying for an exam or taking courses nightly would impact your available time. Moreover, depending on your knowledge and experience with running, you might also want to learn more about running and training. Personally I have had my share of school time (21 years of formal schooling) so any learning I decide to do is focused on the task at hand. Related to running, I have been running for over 30 years, I am a certified Level 1 coach, I wrote a manual on training (Plan on Running Your Best), and I even taught a course on running through the local school board. The learning I need is more around new products and staying on top of new developments which I do through reading magazines such as Runner’s World.

Lifestyle

The area identified as lifestyle refers to how you decide to live and what you have, such as health and wealth. I am not much of a material guy so the gathering of wealth is not critical. Of course, we still need to take care of the house which takes time and energy. Health, however, is a critical component in my life and I am dedicated to staying fit. In addition, I love to compete in races. Qualifying for the Boston Marathon fits in this Lifestyle category.

Leisure

Leisure encompasses the activities you do for fun and relaxation. This includes simple activities such as going out to dinner or watching television, to exciting hiking adventures in the Amazon. Although I love to relax and enjoy a good book or movie, some people say I rarely take it easy. There is some validity to this, but my projects keep me very occupied and satisfied.

Now Picture Reality

Through exploring the Dice of Life and the 5L’s of Life, a better sense of what is your reality should emerge. This will assist in determining the right goal for qualifying for the Boston Marathon.