{"id":21350,"date":"2013-09-22T16:27:57","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T20:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=21350"},"modified":"2020-02-27T16:39:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T21:39:28","slug":"qualify-at-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/qualify-at-51\/","title":{"rendered":"How Joe Took 55 Minutes Off His Marathon to Qualify for Boston — at Age 51"},"content":{"rendered":"

If ever a season has punched me in the face to say, “Hey idiot, notice me!”, \u00a0fall did it today.<\/p>\n

With planning for the release of the book and the cross-country tour<\/a> to accompany it, the past month has been the busiest of my life — I’m ashamed to admit that I’m far beyond out-of-touch with the weather and the season and so many things that matter. I take no pride whatsoever in being busy, but without any experience in the book-launch-and-tour department, it happened.<\/p>\n

But today — coincidentally or not, the same day as the autumnal equinox — I looked out the window and noticed that fall had arrived. Erin roasted some sugar pumpkins from our garden using this method from Oh She Glows<\/a>, and tonight I’ll use some of the output to make risotto<\/a> (without the butter or cheese, though — that recipe is from before I was vegan).<\/p>\n

Football is on, an evening run is planned, and pumpkin ale is in the fridge … fall, I am noticing (and appreciating) you.<\/p>\n

But what does fall have to do with the title of the post?<\/em> Quite a bit, actually.<\/p>\n

Perhaps my strongest association to this season is that of qualifying for Boston<\/a>. It was at the Wineglass Marathon in October, in upstate New York with fall in all its glory, that I qualified, after putting everything I had into it for seven years. As emotional an experience as it was, it’s no surprise that every year when the colors turn and the wind gets a chill, I’m reminded of that day and that proud accomplishment.<\/p>\n

The interview I’m sharing today is with my friend Joe, whose Boston-qualifying story is strangely similar to mine. Like me, Joe ran his qualifying race at BQ-friendly Wineglass. Also like me, Joe’s first marathon times gave no indication whatsoever that he’d ever do any more than spectate at Boston.<\/p>\n

And of course, Joe credits his vegan diet with a big part of his enormous improvement, just as going vegetarian helped me close the 10 minute gap between myself and a Boston bib.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Richardson, ready to cross the line and call himself a Boston qualifier.<\/p>\n

The big difference is that while I did all of this in my late 20’s, Joe qualified\u00a0at\u00a0the age of 51<\/em>! At an age when most runners think decline is inevitable, Joe took 55 minutes off his previous PR marathon and earned himself a spot in Boston (which he’ll run in 2014).<\/p>\n

I hope you enjoy the interview. In it, I pick Joe’s brain about his diet, what it was that made him think that he could get to Boston, and the training that made it happen. But mostly, I’m sharing it so that it will inspire you — especially if you’re like Joe or me, and qualifying for Boston seems so impossible but some part of you won’t let the crazy idea go.<\/p>\n

Click the button below to listen to the interview:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/rybq-audio\/joe-interview-full.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

or download the MP3 to your computer<\/a> (you may need to right-click and “Save Link As”).<\/p>\n

Want more Boston goodies?<\/h3>\n

At the beginning of the interview, you’ll hear me say “Hello, Run Your BQ members and prospective members …” That’s because (a) Joe is a Run Your BQ member and (b) this interview is part of a new free series of audio calls, videos, and articles that Jason Fitzgerald (from\u00a0Strength Running<\/a>) and I put together to help runners get faster and to introduce them to Run Your BQ.<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in getting the rest of the series, check out “How I Took 100 Minutes off My Marathon to Qualify for Boston<\/a>” and download my report about the mental approach I used to improve by so much.\u00a0After that you’ll get an email each day or so, until the series is complete or you unsubscribe (which you can do at any time, of course).\u00a0And just so you know, along with all the content in the series, we’ll also send you some info about Run Your BQ and how you can join.<\/p>\n

With that, I’m back to enjoying this beautiful day and the start of a new season — hope you’re doing the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If ever a season has punched me in the face to say, “Hey idiot, notice me!”, \u00a0fall did it today. With planning for the release of the book and the cross-country tour to accompany it, the past month has been the busiest of my life — I’m ashamed to admit that I’m far beyond out-of-touch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":21354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Joe Took 55 Minutes Off His Marathon to Qualify for Boston -- at Age 51 | No Meat 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