Why do most runners at Boston finish much slower than qualifying times?

ISWYDT

I ran it in 2012 And 2018. Two extremely different but equally bad weather conditions. 2012 the temp. was in the high 80’s. 2018 was the frozen hurricane where most elites dropped out. The 10 o’clock start is stupid in my opinion. Start it at 8 like a normal thon.

Even without the bad weather the course is still tricky. Very easy to go out too fast with the early downhills and thrill of running boston adrenaline. The uphills are few but at the worse time when your glycogen is depleted. Heart break hill isn’t that steep but at mile 20 feels like Mount Everest.

Please don't say "thon".

A lot of people don’t know but they put aside several thousand entries to people who fundraise or raise money for a foundation. I have read that the minimum is $3000 dollars to raise and you get an automatic entry without a previous marathon or qualification time. I recently found this out because I heard someone bragging about running Boston so I looked her up and she has never run a qualifier but she did it in 2013. Come to find out she is a registered dietitian and her husband is a surgeon so I’m fairly certain they donated a large sum of money and she got an entry. I do know that if you look up entry requirements to Boston it will tell you that several thousand spot are set aside for people who do this. At 3000 times 1000 entries. Plus I’m guessing BAA gets some percentage of that fundraiser money. I have run 2:24 for marathon and I have not intention to do Boston for this reason. there are people who truly work hard to get in but in the end it’s just about status and money. No Thanks. I do encourage to fact check what I’ve shared for your own knowledge. I just wanted to share what I’ve researched.

It just seems tricky to gauge how you are feeling on the course. You should feel good 16 miles into a marathon, even 21 miles in. But those hills come at a point when you are tired. So you have to be strong enough to endure a longer stretch of pain in Boston. The hilly newton section, then the standard end of marathon fatigue.
I know a bunch of people who qualified at CIM or Chicago and didn’t come close to their PR. I got my qualifier at NYC, and got within a minute. I think a lot of runners want to PR, but don’t take into consideration how much harder Boston is than where they qualified. Leads to a lot of runners blowing up.

I wondered the same but made sense to me after my experience. I first got in for 2018. I brought my whole family with little ones in tow, going all around town, long waits everywhere and trying to squeeze in much as possible since it was a rare occasion to visit Boston. Needless to say I was already wiped out by the time I ran. I didn’t train as well as I did when I had BQ’d but did worse than I thought. However month after, I ran a local marathon that’s dull n flat and to my surprise, almost PR’d anyway. Realized I cannot handle travel, especially with fam, for a race and I imagine this applies for others.

I did it in 2008 and was only 2 and a bit minutes off the time I ran to qualify. For me it came down to two things, adrenaline & ignorance. Adrenaline had me going through the half in 79 high, about 90 seconds slower than my 1/2 PB. Ignorance had me going through the second half in 91 high, completely coming to a stop on the side of the road within the last 2 miles, unknowingly getting passed by Lance Armstrong, getting yelled at by some frat boy yelling my race number and telling me to 'get my ass up' (which worked wonders!) and then crossing the line and walking back to the hotel after a stint in the medical tent.

It's a box ticked and would love to have the fitness to at least qualify again, whether I race it or not.

I was thinking about this and decided to do a "study"
I went back to the 2001 race onwards to 2019 (excluded 2021 since it took place in October) and compared the top 15 men's and women's time's to their PB's. I only sampled repeat runners, as to get more consistent data.
The average Boston time for both men and women came out to about 3.7% slower than their PB. But it wildly varies and many factors affect that. This year, the average difference was 1.1% slower.

Boston is not a fast course. I don't think people realize how significant a 1-2% downhill grade is that haven't run a downhill course. I ran one downhill marathon as a training run, and even at a subdued effort I ended up walking a bit the final few miles as my quads and hamstrings were really hurting. I ended up getting a bad IT injury. It was dumb to not do any practice on that course. Then of course with Boston, you have the hills at mile 18. Heartbreak by itself is not a big deal, 3% grade over half a mile, I mean I live near a hill that is tougher than that. But after 20 miles of downhill? Yeah that will be tough for the ill-prepared runner.

Good analysis but I think you understate the difficulty of the course a bit. In my (abundant) experience for a 3:00 marathoner it is more like 4-5 minutes slow.

A qualifying time can come from numerous attempts, and then Boston is just one shot. So the BQ time could be a person’s peak performance, which is hard to replicate.And as others have said, some people run it for enjoyment, not for the fastest possible time. It could be like a fun long run, or possibly you don’t want to run “on the edge” and risk blowing up and DNF. That’s my plan- qualify and run conservatively. I’ll save my hardest efforts for shorter distances (I’m old) or a marathon where it it won’t be so bad to blow up and crawl home or DNF.

To account for all those times way over the qualifiers, you can't just look at the fact that it's a harder course, hotter time of day relative to the season, and difficult to get to logistically, because that stuff doesn't account for that much time. The reason must be that there are a lot of charity runners taking up spots and that many qualifiers ran their time at very fast or even downhill courses to get to Boston, plus many didn't train hard for Boston or didn't run the race hard because they felt that their mission--getting the BQ--had been accomplished.

It’s like expecting somebody to match their pr from the past few years in any particular race- and when there is little incentive to do so.

Just like Kona for many triathletes, Boston is the prize/reward for many runners. The PR is for the qualifying race, Boston is the experience. It was same for me this past weekend, I was considerably slower than my qualifying time.

I'm sure this has been stated already but if my BQ -4:30 gets me in next year my race will be about 30 minutes slower. I pretty much buried myself and maxed out my ability to get that BQ and I won't do that kind of mileage (60 mpw) again or try that pace. I want to run it and enjoy it, not hurt another 26.2 Mike's.

A lot of runners ruin their Boston at the expo. They hit every booth looking for free samples, discount coupons, looking for deals, getting pictures and autographs, standing at crowded athlete talks, waiting in line to buy souvenir merch, etc. Being on your feet for several hours on the day or two before a race is never a good strategy.

Qualifying for so many people is the pinnacle. Then they can post that and get the jacket. Who cares if they back it up.

If I decided to run again, I could run just under 3 hours and qualify for Boston after 8-10 months of training. Once I qualify, I’d stop running again and just go to Boston to hit the 10-12 minute pace jog while eating a pizza. I suspect a lot of people do that…

Still BQ'd but was 15+ minutes slower than my QT run at October Boston when barely in shape and running for fun. Rested legs that would do well on a flat and fast course can get absolutely chewed up by the first 16 miles of the Boston. When it does go wrong, it tends to go very wrong.

M63 -7th Boston (1987 - 2023) I was 42:00 slower than my 2021 BQ this past Monday. I trained strong the 16 weeks before the race. I sucked but the experience this time was as good as my initial Boston when I BQ’d under 2:40.
The crowds, the crowds were into it and there were more scream tunnels than just Wellesley. The day was perfect until those damned winds off the Atlantic. Anyone who days otherwise lives and runs on the prairie.
I’ve never raced this course well. In fact, I’m horrible on this course. The worst of it is I try to be a strong runner, a runner worthy of my best. And I may be all that, just not from Hopkinton to Boston on Patriot’s Day.
I wouldn’t change Boston Marathon weekend for much else. Bostonians treat us with reverence (along with the Sox, the Bruins, the Cletics), the town is awesome, the food expensively great, and the atmosphere electric. I love using the T, people watching, and the time spent worth every penny.
I’ll attempt to BQ for 2024 when I’ll be 65 and my wife and will visit Boston with yhe same excitement. No one can belittle that I earned that opportunity or the joy I take from competing. Even if I am slow enough to watch thousands pass me, I did beat my bib number. heh