How to Qualify for Boston Marathon without Formal Training

Y’all, I did what I wasn’t sure was possible–I QUALIFIED for the Boston Marathon!!! I have been running marathons for the past 14 years, with a big break while having babies, and dreamed about qualifying for Boston since I was a little girl, but never knew if it was physically possible to do so. Growing up, I watched my dad run numerous races, I have memories of standing on the sidelines and cheering for him and nights of “carbo loading” before a marathon. My family always beamed whenever we said that my dad ran Boston, it was a sense of accomplishment and an achievement that very few runners can achieve. It’s like the Olympics for us average athletes, something that is achievable but very challenging.

My first couple marathons, my goal was to simply FINISH. Finishing a marathon is a huge accomplishment and signifies a lot of determination and dedication. It takes hours of running, training, and lots of mental toughness to run a marathon. After having a few completed marathons under my belt, my next goal was to finish in under 4 hours. It is a lofty goal that many marathoners want to achieve. It felt so great being able to finish under 4 hours and that was a sweet spot that I enjoyed knowing I could do.

Well fast forward to the last couple races and I finished in 3:52 and 3:43 with the same goal in mind of finishing under 4 hours. To my surprise, as I did not look at my watch or time AT ALL during my last marathon, I came 7 minutes over qualifying for Boston. My last marathon was Memphis and I felt amazing and had a lot left in the “bank” had I known I was so close to qualifying I definitely would have stepped it up a notch…however, my goal was to PR under 3:52 and really to run a sub 4 hour marathon.

After realizing how close I got to the dream of qualifying for Boston and feeling good after that race, I realized that my goal was an actual possiblitily! Something that I only thought some people could achieve. Something that I didn’t know was possible for me, now became a real dream and goal to achieve.

I like to give myself (and my family) a break from running marathons. It is time consuming and especially while having preschool aged children, it is hard to squeeze in runs without taking time away from family. I originally planned to train for my Boston Qualifier in the Fall 2024 and run a race in December 2024 as my youngest was starting Kindergarten and I would have more time to run without interfering with our family time. However, God’s timing is perfect.

While at my son’s swim team practice this summer, I was talking with some neighbors about running. They admittedly see me running through our neighborhood a lot and being runners themselves, struck up a conversation with me. I had heard of a race on Labor Day weekend that was a one mile loop marathon about 30 minutes away and was intrigued by it. After our conversation and their encouragement, I set off to run 12 miles and told myself if I could do that (which meant that I wasn’t too far off from training-2 months away) that I would give it a shot. Well, I decided to register for the marathon as a “Hail Mary” type race–telling myself that it was a lofty goal and that if nothing else, I would learn something from it.

I typically like to have at least 16 weeks of good training prior to running a marathon. It allows for your body to heal and not over stress yourself. It is good practice and something that I highly recommend. Unfortanutely, I was late to my own goal…I had only 10 weeks to train (not great!). Admittedly, I had been putting in good distance beforehand so it wasn’t too much of a reach but I knew I needed to learn how to run fast as well as build my stamina and distance.

Fast forward to training in the heat of Georgia summer, numerous vacations and my boys being home from school. It was not the best timing, but I knew I had my goal in mind. So how did I train? I squeezed in runs when I could, I got a lot of support from my husband on the weekends to do long runs, I maximized the school days to do my very long runs, I prayed and I utilized my treadmill.

While I would love to get a running coach someday, I did not have “formal” training. I attempted to follow the same Novice 2 training schedule from Hal Higdon. However, between vacations, sickness, minor injuries and boys being home from school–I had to tweak a lot of things. I ended up running my longest run (20 miles) 2 weeks before the race and changed my training schedule to make the marathon a “long run” rather than the end of the taper period. While I do not recommend it, it worked for this race.

Moving forward, I would like to have a full 16 weeks to prepare, appropriately do speed work on a track, run with a buddy and learn to better fuel during the heat. Every race is a learning experience and even though I am beyond GRATEFUL to achieve my goal, I know there are lessons to be learned and knowledge gained moving forward.

I learned quite a few lessons along the way:

1. Do not do speed work on an old treadmill (or probably any treadmill): I started having IT band issues following a speed work session on the treadmill, where I maxed it out for 4 miles!

2. A handheld water bottle is amazing for long runs in the summer: I tried numerous water bottles or just running to water fountains, but you need to have electrolytes in the summer on long runs and this bottle is the best!

3. You can do it! Being a mom, I find myself encouraging my children to do hard things–but then shy away from big goals myself, I learned to value myself and believe in myself just as much as I believe in them. Achieve or not, you will always be proud that you gave it your best!

4. Count your miles–I am terrible at running math and lost track of my loops during the race and during a long training run, even though I have an Apple Watch! Do not hit pause on your watch, if you are like me 🙂

5. Running shoes: Admittedly, I have 3 black toes after this race. I need a quarter size bigger shoe (the half size larger is too big and the ones I run in are too small)…but since they don’t make that size, it is time for me to search for a better pair (sadly). Also, running in different shoes makes a big difference in recovery and longevity of your shoes–make sure you have at least 2 different running shoes if you are training for a marathon.

6. Just because you qualify for Boston, doesn’t mean that you will actually get in. I qualified with 3:32:46–but that doesn’t guarantee that I will get in. BAA determines based on all the qualified times, what the cut off time is. I am just praying that it is a minute or two under…time will tell, but it is out of my hands (and I still qualified, even if I don’t get to run in the race).

7. Support system. I have the best family and friends! My husband and kids supported me along the way. My Dad and Mimi came to cheer for me during the race and helped with the boys. My good friend and her family came to cheer me on and made such a difference knowing people are there to encourage you. I even met a few people while running, who stayed and cheered for me after they finished! Encouragement and support goes a long way while running, especially during race day.

So a huge shout out to all my family and friends who encourage me on and off the race course and continue to support me throughout my running journey. “All things are possible through Him”. I believe that I was able to qualify because of the help of the Lord being with me throughout my race and getting me to the finish line. He is amazing and because of His grace I achieved my goal. I am looking forward to hearing if I get into Boston and will continue to rest and recover.

Happy running, friends! And remember, you can do it 🙂