Here’s a fun one – a questionnaire from a guy fast enough to run Boston, but who has no interest in doing so.  Thanks for filling this out Craig!

Name: Craig

Sex: M 

Age (at the time of first BQ): 33

Height :  6′

Weight (at the time of first BQ): 155lbs

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

Ottawa Race Weekend – My brother was running it, so I decided it was a good enough time to try a marathon.

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

8 years? There are definitely periods in there of very little training. I started at 25, then ran one year with the university XC team when I went back to school to finish my degree. I’d been running less than a year when I started with the team.

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

8500km

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

1200km

Approximately how many races did you run in that year?  

Maybe 4? 2 of them are just XC races at work, then a 10K and the marathon.

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, didn’t follow a canned program. I looked at Daniels in building my program, but I didn’t follow it anyway. Basic philosophy – train enough to run for 42 km.  Most people consider me to train slowly for my race times.

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

A few long-ish runs with a training group I’d run with in the past, and some group runs at work at a couple min/km slower than easy pace.

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

I do things other than run – curling, soccer, hiking with pack, etc. Other than scheduling workouts around them, I don’t know their effect.

Did speed work play a role or specific workouts play a role in your training? If so, how?

I did a few 400’s, a bunch of LT and tempo running and some MP running.  Usually fast one day/week, two days sometimes.

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

Why? Try to get faster, don’t just try to meet a time goal. I use round number goals. I mostly hate big races (crowded and expensive), so BQ and running the Boston Marathon really doesn’t hold much interest to me.