I would have been blissfully unaware of it, but a friend happened to point out to me that my marathon time of 3h32 earlier this year qualified me for an almost guaranteed 'Good for Age' place at both the 2014 London and Boston Marathons, if I wished to apply for one. Now, I am aware of how incredibly difficult it can be to get a ballot place at these events so in light of that this is probably going to sound extremely ungracious, but instead of feeling pretty chuffed I just felt pretty old. I think I might actually find it mildly depressing to be considered 'Good for Age', like a wine that should be over the hill but is still somehow tasting all right. The 'for Age' addendum is the equivalent of an enormous 'but' and it really drags the 'Good' down with it. I would so much rather be 'Good' full stop.
Looking exceptionally 'Good' after 26.2 miles
And why stop at age? Surely everyone has their own 'but', so maybe organisers should offer a certain number of places for 'Good for Weight' perhaps or 'Good for a Mother of Six'. I almost feel bad that my only limiting factor is lack of youth.
I made the very easy decision not to apply for a place at either marathon, not out of chagrin, but out of concern for what I imagine to be a very low Portaloo to runner ratio at the start of these mass participation events. We aged runners, no matter how Good, have to worry about such things.
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