Tim Mc's Experience Qualifying for Boston...

Wow...I just wanted to share this with everyone. This is from an e-mail that Tim McCaughey sent to the Quad Cities race director. Quite a gutsy performance! Kudos to Rob Flather for pacing Tim.


I wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon. That was my goal. My time to qualify (age 50) is 3:35. A friend of mine agreed to pace me for as long as he could. When we got to the 20 mile mark we turned into the wind. Somewhere between mile 21 and 22 I hit the wall and slowed to a crawl. I thought I was done.

My friend said "just make to the turnaround, and it's with the wind the rest of the way. I kept going, and got to the turn at mile 23. I saw the cheerleaders with the sign that said 3 miles to go, and looked at my watch. I had less than 24 minutes to go 3 miles and qualify.

I don't know what came over me, but I took off on a dead sprint, leaving my friend behind, and finished at 3:34:49! I qualified!

Unfortunately, I was unable to indulge in the complimentary beer and snacks, opting for the 3 bags of IV solution it took to get my blood pressure back up and diminish the dizziness. However, one of the medical techs, when I complained of missing out on the beer, said "yeah, but this IV would cost you $300 a bag at the hospital, and you're getting it for free, so it's a pretty good deal".