Name: Aaron Fox

Sex: Male

Age (at the time of first BQ): 41

Height (at the time of first BQ):  6’3″

Weight (at the time of first BQ): 192

At which marathon did you get your first BQ? Mountains 2 Beach

Tell us a little about the race. This is a point to point race, about 700 ft net downhill that I specifically targeted for BQ. I needed 3:15, realistically 3:12, and trained/targeted sub 3. I started off with the 3:02 pacer, and left that group about mile 8. Felt great through 16-17 miles (half in 1:29:07), then the sun and miles got me, and I faded a bit the last 10k. Ended up 3:03:02 and ringing the BQ gong felt great.

How long had you been running when you ran your first BQ? 4.5 years

Did you run in college or high school? No

What was your approximate lifetime mileage at the time of your first BQ? 9000

How many miles did you run in the year before your first BQ? 2500

Approximately how many races did you run in that year? 6

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

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

Did cross training play a role in your training? If so, how? none

Did speed work play a role in your training? If so, how? my coach loves strides, so I did a lot of those. once a week I did sessions of a couple min on, a couple min off, with the ratio increasing throughout the plan. but there were no prescribed paces. All effort based.

Any other thoughts you would like to share with those of working towards a BQ? For those of us with no running background, I really think it comes down to just an accumulation of miles. The specific plan can help a little, but at some point it just comes down to having thousands and thousands of miles in your legs. Good luck!