Boston or Bust

Chasing the Dream

Boston Marathon qualifiers don’t sign sneaker deals. Coaches don’t push them through their workouts, and fans don’t line up for their autographs. They will never break a world record, or mug for the cameras, or take a victory lap.

Boston Marathon qualifiers aren’t great runners.

But they are very, very good.

The Olympic Trials and Boston are the only two races in the country that require a qualifying time. The top few runners aim for the Trials. Everyone else shoots for Boston. The runners who make it achieve a status somewhere between the Olympian and the weekend warrior. Somewhere between Superman and the everyman.

Robyn Kaplan

As any marathoner can tell you, life sometimes gets in the way of running.

Robyn Kaplan has only run one marathon, a 4:22 effort in June 2005. While qualifying for Boston meant running 42 minutes faster, she believed she could do it now that she knew what the marathon was about. A car-accident injury thwarted her attempt at a fall follow-up, however, so she aimed for the Napa Valley Marathon the next spring. Two weeks before the race, she was diagnosed with IT band syndrome. Despite a cortisone shot in her hip, she dropped out at mile 11.

Kaplan continued her training, determined to use her mileage base to help her qualify at Philadelphia in the fall. She began her new training cycle in the best shape of her life. Soon she was running faster and farther than ever before.

Life kept dealing blows, though. She started a new job in May, then found out the funding for the position would run out within a few months. She was forced to start looking for work all over again.

Kaplan found a new job, but then she and her long-time boyfriend broke up, and she had to find a new place to live.

"At 4:30 in the morning, it’s hard to focus on a tempo run when you have a million other things going on in your head," she says.

Kaplan found herself skipping one of her long runs, the building block of any marathon training program. The next week, she got in a 19-miler but only ran two other workouts. She skipped her next two long runs, too. During speed workouts and marathon-pace runs, she found it difficult to maintain focus. The miles she did log were on the treadmill, not the park near her old apartment. The base she had been building for more than a year was slipping away.

Kaplan began to wonder whether she should even run a fall marathon, let alone take a shot at qualifying for Boston. Her training plan was falling apart.

Brian Wean

Four years ago, Brian Wean was on the verge of destroying himself with drugs and alcohol. Now, he’s obsessed with fitness. He runs between 30 and 70 miles a week, has organized a morning "boot camp" with some friends in a Minneapolis park, and says things like, "It’s interesting how many variations of push-ups there are."

He ran his first marathon — the ING Miami Marathon — in January 2006 and clocked a 3:55. Four months later, he shaved off 25 minutes, running Cleveland in 3:30.

Wean was hooked. Instead of losing himself in cocaine, acid, and booze, he found himself spending hours on the Internet looking up new exercises. Instead of experimenting with crystal meth, he was trying out two-a-day runs.

"It’s given me this sense of discipline that I’ve never had before," Wean, who now works and goes to school, says of running.

During his road to recovery, Wean learned to set small, achievable goals for himself. Get out of debt. Pay his rent on time.

Now he has his eyes set on Boston.

"I don’t have very many crowning achievements to speak of," Wean says. "Addiction doesn’t really hand out too many victories. To qualify, if I do that, it will tell me that if I work for it, I can pretty much do anything I set out to accomplish. I don’t have a solid foundation for that notion. To have that for me would be something that is irreplaceable."

Guy Munsch

For people with diabetes, running can be a double-edged sword. Exercise helps diabetics manage their weight and burn sugars. But on long runs, the disease only multiplies the fueling issues faced by other runners. If the average athlete runs out of carbohydrates, he might have to walk for a while. But a diabetic who has taken too much insulin could pass out in the woods, 10 miles from home.

Guy Munsch, 46, began running again in 2005 after his doctor told him he was close to developing Type II diabetes, which runs in his family. He had run a couple of marathons 10 years earlier, posting a time of 4:44 in New York, and he decided to shoot for Boston as a way of keeping himself motivated to exercise and trying to stave off diabetes.

Since beginning to run again, Munsch has lost 16 pounds and stabilized his blood sugar and blood pressure.

In his first marathon in 10 years, Munsch ran 4:43 — not great, but a minute quicker than he had done then. A month later, he ran 4:31. He knew dropping more than an hour from his time would be no easy task. But he thought if he gave himself a full year to train, running a tune-up marathon in the spring and a qualifying race in the fall, he might be able to do it.

Munsch ran the National Marathon in March and cut his time to 4:10. Without the stomach problems he faced after mile 21, he thinks he could have run under four hours.

Wary of putting all his BQ eggs in one basket, Munsch signed up for two fall marathons — Twin Cities and New York.

To qualify, he knows he needs to work on his speed and find a way to avoid GI problems. He knows it’s a long shot, but he has faith in himself.

"On the inside — I think I can do it, but I’m not saying it out loud," Munsch writes in an email. "The proof comes in the running."

The Long Road

Every runner who aims to qualify for Boston has to deal with the reality that it just might not happen.

Although Wean says he is 70 percent confident that he’ll qualify this time around, he knows his previous marathon times in no way make him a lock. Less than two years ago, he was a chain smoker who couldn’t make it all the way through his first attempt at a 4-miler.

Wean says he’ll be disappointed, but not devastated, if he misses his goal. Regardless of what happens, he’ll keep running.

"I’ve come to handle defeat pretty well in my life, because I’ve been there," he says, a reference to his addiction.

Robyn Kaplan and Guy Munsch, too, say that they’ll keep shooting for Boston, regardless of whether they qualify this year.

"I think it’ll be a mixed bag of feeling really bad [if I don’t BQ], and then getting over myself and finding another marathon," Kaplan says. "I’m definitely on this road until it happens."

Trial of Miles

Robyn Kaplan has battled depression since her teens, but she no longer takes medication. Running, she likes to say, is her anti-depressant.

She begins to use her runs to help cope with the chaos in her life, and her mileage starts going back up. She starts doing her long runs again and has three strong weeks in a row. She realizes that, despite everything, she’s still in the best shape of her life. A few bad weeks weren’t able to erase a year of hard work.

Kaplan begins to grow more confident. Based on her 10K times, online race calculators predict she’ll run close to the 3:40 qualifying time she needs to get to Boston.

Still, she’s only finished one marathon, more than a year ago. She’s run about 2,000 miles since then, though. Can she do it?

"Yeah, I think I can," she says.

Wean’s biggest worry is that he’ll injure himself during training. He sometimes runs two long runs in two days — a 15-miler followed by a 20.

Wean runs a peak week of 85 miles just before he goes to Florida for a week, knowing he’ll have to limit his running there because of the humidity. He logs only 10 miles in Florida, but he swims laps in the pool and lets his legs rest a little. When he returns home, he’s still doing his long runs between 8:00 and 8:30 pace, right where he should be for a marathon goal pace of 7:15. He runs some of his shorter runs just above 6-minute pace. He’s developed both the mileage base and the speed of a Boston marathoner.

Three weeks before his qualifying marathon, Wean enters a 20-mile race, running it in 7:03 pace. His confidence soars. He knows he has what it takes. All he has to do is stay injury-free.

Wean gives himself three weeks to taper, running just 10 miles the week of the race. He wants to toe the line with fresh legs. He doesn’t want anything to stand between him and his goal.

For Guy Munsch, eight is the magic number. Not a natural speedster, he’ll have to become comfortable with an 8-minute mile pace by fall if he wants to qualify for Boston.

By spring, he appears to be making some progress. A month after the National Marathon, he runs a 10K with every mile under 8 minutes, and a 7:37 last mile.

By summer, though, he seems to be hitting a plateau. He runs a hot July 10K at 8:05 pace, but his training runs stall at around 8:45 per mile. Still, he continues to focus on his mileage base, upping his weeks from the 50s and 60s into the 70s and 80s. His peak week is 102 miles — a number that would have been unthinkable a year ago.

Heading into his fall marathons, Munsch is in shape, but he doesn’t feel all that fast. He hopes that his taper will rest his legs enough to put the extra spring in his step.

Minnesota Morning

The weather at the start of the Twin Cities is ideal for marathoning — cool and clear, with the temperature hovering right around 50 degrees. The gun fires, and Brian Wean goes out aggressively, trying to build himself a cushion in case he needs to slow down in the final miles of the race.

Guy Munsch takes the opposite approach — in the past, he’s fallen apart after mile 20, and he starts out conservatively. He runs the first few miles at 8:30 pace, hoping to make up ground later on if he’s feeling good. He’s hoping he can qualify here and take the pressure off for New York. To do that, he’ll have to solve his stomach problems and find a way to fall into that elusive 8-minute pace.

Wean crosses the 5K mark in 22:21, 3 seconds per mile faster than his goal pace. He runs the next 5K in 20:59. He clocks in at 1:31:08 at the halfway mark, still feeling good. He’s built his cushion. Even if his pace slows by 30 seconds a mile, he’ll qualify. It’s early, though. Many marathoners claim the true halfway point comes not at 13.1 miles, but at 20.

Wean flirts with the idea of trying to hit 3 hours flat, a full 10 minutes faster than his goal. He quickly dismisses the idea, though. He’d rather have a little left over at the end of the race than risk a disastrous collapse.

To hold his pace, Wean will need an extra shot of carbohydrates. Sports drinks gave him stomach problems in his first marathon, but he had success with energy gummies in Cleveland. He pops the first one in his mouth around mile 17. Soon, he’s feeling the boost, and his stomach is holding up fine.

Munsch is not so lucky. He crosses the halfway mark in 1:54, about 9 minutes slower than his BQ pace. A runny nose nags him the whole time. Still, he’s on track to shatter his PR. His mind turns to how to stay fueled for the rest of the race. He reaches for a packet of gel, wondering how it will affect his stomach this time.

Wean slows down slightly between miles 13 and 20, averaging 7:06 pace. That’s still 10 seconds faster than his goal pace, though, and he crosses the 20-mile mark in 2:20:30. If he can run the last 10K in 50 minutes, he’ll qualify for Boston.

Around mile 23, Wean’s hamstrings begin to tighten, and he feels a quiver in his calves. This has happened to him in his other marathons, but not until his final kick.

"Oh, not yet," he tells his legs. "This is too soon."

His calves feel like they’re going to pop out of his skin. Wean is afraid they’ll lock up. If they do, he knows he’ll be forced to walk. Even his cushion won’t save him, then. If he walks, Wean knows he’ll be out of Boston contention.

"Come on, now," he begs his legs. "Not now."

Meanwhile, the gel takes its toll on Munsch. A bathroom stop contributes to an 11:46 mile. He finds a 9-minute pace, hoping to settle in for a sub-4 hour finish. But the once-perfect temperature climbs into the 70s, and Munsch has difficulty concentrating.

The Streets of Philadelphia

There’s something about tapering that makes Robyn Kaplan nervous, as if she’s not running enough miles to stay in shape. She has cut her taper for Philadelphia down to two weeks instead of three, trying to make up some of the ground she lost when she missed those long runs.

The extra week of mileage restores Kaplan’s confidence. She’s feeling good. She’s feeling like she’s going to qualify.

Then, life shows up.

The Tuesday before the marathon, Kaplan finds herself getting sick. She goes on antibiotics — risky, because they can cause dehydration and stomach problems.

The race feels terrible from the beginning — not just tight legs or stomach cramps, Kaplan says, but more like she’s been hit by a truck. The crowded start makes for a slow first mile — 8:30, 7 seconds slower than her BQ pace. She picks it up and starts hitting her splits between 8:10 and 8:15 for the next few miles.

Kaplan is under her goal pace, but she doesn’t know if she can keep it up the way she feels. At mile five, she admits to herself that she’s not just feeling sluggish. She’s really sick.

At mile eight, she starts having trouble breathing and she feels a tightness in her lungs. She slows to an 8:20 pace — still on track for Boston.

The breathing problem sticks, though, and by mile 10 Kaplan realizes she’s not going to finish this race. She tries not to get upset, knowing that it will only make her breathing more difficult. She sets a new goal: hit the halfway mark on Boston pace, no matter how sick she is.

She hits her goal, a small consolation, and then drops out. It’s her second DNF in a year. Despite all her training, all her miles, her marathon PR stands at a misleading 4:22.

I Qualified

His calves screaming, Wean slows down to an 8-minute pace. He tries to make it to the spot where his friends are waiting to cheer him on, about a mile-and-a-half from the finish.

Gradually, his calves loosen up, and the cheerleading gives him a much-needed boost. When he sees the finish line, a shot of adrenaline runs through his body and he goes into a dead sprint. He slows down in the last 100 meters, though. He wants to savor this. He wants to remember it.

Tears fill Wean’s eyes as he jogs across the finish line. The clock reads 3:08:01.

Brian Wean is headed to Boston.

"I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier," Wean says.

Now he has a foundation for the idea that he can achieve great things through hard work. Four years ago he was a drug addict, two years ago a chain smoker. Now he’s a runner.

A very, very good runner.

Try, Try Again

For Munsch, the final 5K of Twin Cities will be one disastrous mile after another, and he’ll end up finishing in 4:18:07 — 8 minutes worse than his effort in the spring.

The day after Twin Cities, Guy Munsch’s runny nose has turned into full-blown flu, and he realizes he must have picked up a bug while travelling. That explains the 4:18 somewhat, but it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.

He takes his final shot at qualifying for Boston this year in New York. But he’s more concerned about running a good race, one in which he doesn’t fall apart at the end. If he qualifies, great. But he doesn’t want a repeat of Twin Cities.

Slowed by a crowded start, three of Munsch’s first four miles are over 9 minutes. By mile seven or eight, he accepts that he’ll have to wait another year for Boston. But he doesn’t implode this time, and that in itself is a small victory. He settles for a PR of 4:03:24.

The Quest

Brian, Guy, and Robyn are all able runners. They’ve all worked hard. And yet, only one of them will toe the starting line in Hopkinton on April 16. That’s why the Boston race bib is so coveted. There are plenty of good runners who will never have a chance to wear it.

Wean continues to push the envelope. Days after qualifying, he ran for 12 straight hours, covering more than 50 miles. Then, wisely, he took some time off. He’s now training for Boston, where he hopes to break 3 hours.

Robyn Kaplan stayed in bed for four days after her marathon. Although she plans to continue chasing Boston, she says her collapse in Philadelphia made her realize how difficult it is to control what happens on a given day. She plans to focus on having fun with running and to run more races of varying distances. Given how her 2006 went, she figures she’s due for a good 2007.

Guy Munsch plans to make another Boston attempt this spring. What’s his training plan? Focus on running more of those 8-minute miles.

Guy and Robyn haven’t given up their dreams of climbing Heartbreak Hill. They’ll tinker with their training and their diets, they’ll register for more marathons, and they’ll keep checking the race prediction calculators for a hint that they’ll be able to qualify in 2008.

Because, if you’re training to qualify for Boston, there are four words that stick in the back of your mind, giving you hope. There are four words that won’t let you quit. They torture you, tantalize you, bringing you back for more.

There’s always next year.

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April 2007 Update:

• Guy Munsch ran the National Marathon on March 24th, 2007. He managed a 4 minute PR to break 4 hours for the first time, finishing in 3:59:24. He's still ltrying to close the 29 minute gap to his BQ. His next attempt will be at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in the fall of 2007. His next race is the LeHigh Valley Half Marathon on April 28th.
  
  
• After the recent Ocean City Marathon, Robyn Kaplan is now knocking on the door of Boston Qualification. In extremely windy and snowy conditions on the Maryland coast, Robyn ran a 30+ minute PR to bring herself within 10 minutes of qualifying. She finished as the 8th woman overall with a time of 3:47:20.
  
  This time around, Kaplan was able to use her health problems to improve her marathon performance. A dislocated elbow suffered just before Christmas forced her to do shorter quality runs and greatly increased her pain threshhold. Three months of unprecedented consistency with her mileage, she completed a strong 22 miler and decided that day to sign up for the Ocean City Marathon. With these sizeable shots of confidence in her arsenal, even the miserable weather conditions on race day were not enough to bring her down. As she pointed out, "[Going to bed the night before the race,] I had some self-pity about my continued bad luck because the weather conditions looked so poor. But unlike an injury or the flu, I knew bad conditions couldn't stop me from finishing."