NatNews

A goal for many runners is to take part in the Boston Marathon, an annual race that first began in 1897 and is traditionally held on Patriots’ Day. One of the six World Marathon Majors, it has become a sought-after experience that motivates individuals to achieve the qualifying times required of them. However, simply running a qualifying time doesn’t necessarily mean that a person will be able to run the race, as standards have become much more challenging recently.

Dallas resident and White Rock Running Co-op leader Julie Lanaux said she thinks part of the appeal is simply how long the Boston Marathon has been taking place.

“I think it’s this exclusive club that some people get to join, and the more exclusive it is, the more it makes people want to join,” she said. “It is one of the hardest (if not the hardest) races to get into because there’s no lottery. You either qualify, or you take a charity spot and raise a ton of money to get there. The more elusive it is, the more appealing it is.”

Dallas resident and running coach Alfonzo Gonzalez Jr. (“Fonz”) has run Boston eight times and knows how important it is for some people to be part of that exclusive club—after all, he was once in those runners’ shoes.

“It was important to me the first time, as Boston was labeled as a prestigious marathon qualifier to runners around the world,” he said. “I also wanted to experience the atmosphere runners would talk about so much. It’s a bucket-list item to those who have a goal to run all World Marathon Majors or to feel self-accomplished in being able to achieve their age-group qualifier times at what runners call the mecca of marathons.”

Dallas-area resident Carolyn Macduff-Levanway, who recently ran a personal best at the Chicago Marathon, said she believes qualifying for Boston has become more difficult because of an increase in the number of people who run in general.

“I know a lot of people who took up running during COVID,” she said. “And what’s more, a lot of runners are becoming more serious about running. This leads to faster times and way more competition. Boston can’t increase its field size, so Boston has no choice but to increase cutoff times or make qualifying times faster.”

For the upcoming 128th Boston Marathon that will be run on Monday, April 15, 2024, individuals who qualified and were accepted were notified at the end of September. This go-round, only those who were 5 minutes and 29 seconds or faster than the qualifying times for their age groups and genders were accepted—which turned out to be 22,019 qualified applicants. To Lanaux, this is a result of exclusivity.

“The race raises the bar periodically by setting the Boston qualifying standards faster,” she said. “In theory, this should mean fewer people are able to qualify. But it makes the race that much more enticing, so people run faster to get their slots. I think even if they drop the BQ times 10 minutes, they’ll run into the same issues with people needing a cushion to get in within a few years for this reason.”

But Lanaux, who ran Boston in 2014 and still considers it one of her top three accomplishments in life, offered a solution that could help the situation.

“I think the only way to somewhat temper that would be to borrow from what many of the other majors do—qualifying times only apply to citizens of that country,” she said. “Everyone else needs a charity bib (or a lucky lottery entry if Boston implemented a lottery for others). I don’t know that that is the ‘right’ answer, but it would bring Boston more in line with races like London and Tokyo.”

For Macduff-Levanway, while taking part in Boston would allow her to be part of something that she said has been a “huge prestigious race for so long,” she doesn’t believe that whether or not she eventually experiences racing through the streets of the historic city determines her success or defines her as a runner.

“I’d love to run the Boston Marathon someday, but I don’t think it’s super important,” she said. “I think it’s a great goal to have, but there are so many other running goals I have that are more important.”

For every human on Earth, there are an estimated 2.5 million ants—which is approximately 20 quadrillion in total.

When you’re a little kid, time and tasks aren’t really significant issues. Sure, you might have school assignments to complete, but even those sometimes take backburner positions to the more important things in your life (like video games and playing sports or with friends, obviously). Plus, your schedule is often heavily determined by the adults in your life, anyway.

When you become an adult, though, everything changes, and suddenly you have to figure out how to function and stay as organized as you can to make sure that you keep up with work requirements, various appointments, and events in your social life.

Dallas-area resident Madison Royal, who also manages all of the happenings for her 1-year-old, heavily relies on technology to keep her life in order.

“I live and breathe by my calendar on my iPhone,” she said. “Everything I need is in there, and we even have a family calendar that is shared for events that everyone goes to. It is extremely efficient, and if it’s not in my calendar, it’s probably not happening.”

Dallas-area resident Steve Bergsman, on the other hand, said he uses multiple tools to help him stay organized. If it’s a short-term item, he locks it in his brain. If it’s a more long-term requirement, he opts for Apple Reminders. If it’s a recurring task or appointment, he uses Apple Calendar.

“My methods work pretty well for me,” he said. “If it’s something that I end up forgetting, though, my thought is that it was just not that important to begin with.”

Dallas-area resident Paige Ryder-Celuch said she and her husband, Ethan, have a shared calendar so that they can keep up with any work travel, events, etc. For her personally, she makes evening preparations and then timeboxes her day every morning.

“I basically write out everything I need to do and then assign it to a time period during my day,” she said. “That way, I make time for the important items and make sure I don’t take on more than I can handle. I also lay out my clothes and work bag and fix lunch and breakfast the night before so I am not scrambling in the morning.”

Dallas-area resident Kyle Burnett, who helps take care of his two kids and ensure they get to where they need to go when they need to be there, said he depends on his phone calendar, which has also been integrated into his work calendar, and that it’s essential for him to do so.

“Organization is 100 percent important and necessary,” he said. “If I don’t have my appointments written down with reminders, I will totally forget.”

Bergsman said he also believes that staying organized is important for anyone at any stage.

“I think it’s a necessary skill for sure—whether you apply it to work, parenting, or other life activities,” he said. “It’s essential to be high-performing.”

For Royal, it’s not simply a skill one should have but also a way to take better care of oneself.

“I think it’s extremely necessary to stay organized in order to be respectful of your personal time for resting and recovering so as not to overbook yourself,” she said, “and also to make sure that you are where you need to be for the important things in life.”

WEEKLY PHOTO OP

No, it’s not a dinosaur back from extinction—it’s Fitzgerald Cruz ready for Halloween

Tuesday, October 24: NatNews IT Department Day; Free Rooftop Movie — Hocus Pocus at Sundown at Granada
Thursday, October 26: National Pumpkin Day
Friday, October 27: Mavs season opener vs. the Nets at the American Airlines Center; Chris Stapleton at Dos Equis Pavilion; KISS at Dickies Arena
Saturday, October 28: WRRC Saturday run from Taco Joint; Trick-or-Treating in the Park at Klyde Warren Park