The New York City Marathon qualifying standards are not what I thought that they were. When I ran a 2:52:37 in the Mystic Places Marathon, I thought that I was 2½ minutes away from an automatic qualifying time for the ING New York City Marathon. I thought that I needed to beat 2 hours and 50 minutes in a marathon or 83 minutes in a half marathon. I wanted to get in on an actual marathon qualifying time.

Due to a very hectic schedule this year, I decided that now was when I should run the New York City Marathon. I managed a sub 83 minute half marathon on a lark at the New Bedford Half Marathon, so I thought I would just use that. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the actual guarenteed marathon entry time this year was 2 hours and 55 minutes! So, I still get to enter off of a previous marathon performance. Technically, I am in the lottery and will not know until June 15^th whether I am in or not, but since I meet guarenteed entry requirements I am going to assume that I will get in.

This year’s racing highlights is looking like the Vermont City Marathon in a month, the Beach to Beacon 10k a week before my wedding, the New York City Marathon in November, and possibly a random marathon distance run 2½ weeks before the New York City Marathon depending upon the response from Dean Karnazes. Throw in a half dozen 5 kilometer and 5 mile races and a few USATF-NE grand prix races, and it is going to be a busy racing season.