Jason is another RA user and is fast as hell. I am pretty sure I met him after the Hartford half this year, but I forgot my id, so I couldn’t drink with him. Thanks for taking part, Jason!

Name: Jason B boston255ink, jbrunningink, glrr

Sex: Male

Age (at the time of first BQ): 29

Height: 5’4”

Weight (at the time of first BQ): 135

At which marathon did you get your first BQ? Tell us a little about the race.

Portland, ME Marathon – 2009: You can read Jason’s race report here.

How long had you been running when you ran your first BQ? Did you run in college or high school?

I was running on my own and with friends on and off, nothing serious (no racing), for about 10 years after college. I didn’t run throughout college and only did Cross Country in high school because there were hot chicks on the team.

What was your approximate lifetime mileage at the time of your first BQ?

Too many to count. Honestly, I never kept track of my mileage until about a year ago.

How many miles did you run in the year before your first BQ?

I was putting in about 40-50 miles per week leading up to my BQ (4 month cycle).

Approximately how many races did you run in that year?

15-20, mostly 5K’s.

Did you follow a canned program? If so, which one? If not, can you give us an idea of what your training philosophy was?

No, I didn’t follow any program, and I still don’t today. When I first qualified, I just ran whenever I could, but I focused on running a majority of my training runs at my BQ pace. I think that this is key. Your body needs to know if it can even handle that pace for a few miles, let alone 26.2. Today, I mix it up and run all of my training runs at or 30 seconds slower than BQ pace. I’ve since also upped my mileage per week. I’ve been at about 60-75 miles per week for this Boston training cycle. I don’t believe in the canned programs because everybody is different. Listen to your body and take a rest day when you need it, not because a schedule tells you so. The only goal that I have at the beginning of each week is what I want to do for mileage. If I can hit it, great. If I don’t, then no biggie. I figure that there’s a reason why I couldn’t hit my mileage target that week, and that running/BQ’ing shouldn’t take over your life.

Did you run with a running club or utilize a coach?

My breakthrough actually came when I started running with the Greater Lowell Road Runners. You can meet up with a lot of the same like minded people, and have more options when it comes to running, like track workouts, group long runs, club sponsored races and events, etc. I definitely recommend that anyone serious about qualifying for Boston join a running club, especially the Greater Lowell Road Runners, we cater specifically to crazy BQ’ers and those who like to drink and eat.

Did cross training play a role in your training? If so, how?

Not when I first BQ’ed. All I did were runs on my own. No speed work. No hill workouts. Since then, I’ve incorporated track (very important), hill workouts, and oddly, swimming! Swimming has only been recently, but I’ve noticed HUGE benefits to my running. My upper body and core is a lot stronger, and swimming also helps breaks up the monotony of running every day.

Any other thoughts you would like to share with those of working towards a BQ?

Train at BQ pace as much as possible, don’t overdo it with the mileage, listen to your body, and most importantly, HAVE FUN! Also, join www.glrr.net.