Went and answered my own question - from the BAA website FAQ:

"I will never be able to qualify. Can I run the race as an unofficial or "bandit" runner, or is there any other way I could officially enter?

No, please do not run if you have not officially entered in the race. Race amenities along the course and at the finish, such as fluids, medical care, and traffic safety, are provided based on the number of official entrants. Any addition to this by way of unofficial participants, adversely affects our ability to ensure a safe race for everyone."

I know many people, though, who appear to take this request with a grain of salt - at least three people I know have run as "bandits." Is this considered the height of poor sportsmanship, or is it a generally accepted practice?

funny I just saw this post after responding to the other. Many have gotten away with it, but it's simply not fair to the organizers or to the legitimately registered runners because it jams up the course much more than it would be otherwise and it makes it even more difficult to get something to drink at the waterstops. In short, it uses up very limited space and resources.

I had a friend help pace me for a 10k that was not registered in the race since it was too late to do so. I was registered. He didnt take advantage of any of the race amenities - not even the water stop. I think that if you are a bandit runner and are fair about it, then youre alright. A marathon might be a different story though.

I vote "extremely NOT cool".
Folks have to qualify to run Boston. It isn't enough just to get your application in on time, or even to simply win a lottery like New York. You have to QUALIFY. At my age I need to run a 3:30:59 marathon to qualify for Boston. That's 8:03 minute miles. 26.2 of 'em in a row. If by some miracle and by dint of HARD work (I've been training for Portland for five months now) I managed to pull that off I would be PO'ed if I was running with some guy who snuck onto the course. I would probably trip them. Then kick them. Then turn them in. But that's just me...

Well, fear not all, I have no plans to "Bandit" the Boston Marathon in 2007 - just didn't know if it was a paper rule that everyone looked the other way on or not. As I said, I do know a few people who have done it and there was never any mention of it being unsportsmanlike - it seemed a complete non-issue to them (but maybe that's just who they were).

By pure coincidence, NotSoFast, the other Marathon that I was looking at was the Portland marathon. I saw on the website for it that it was considered the "most walker-friendly marathon in the US." Does that mean that one does *not* need to qualify to run in that one?

Thanks for the weigh-in, I hope that no assault is required on the Boston course!

It will be my first marathon but from all I've heard Portland would be perfect for you!

http://www.portlandmarathon.org/

But hurry, only 671 slots left! You don't have to qualify but it DOES sell out. You're too late for a personalized bib (mine will say "Mario", Schweet!) but not too late to sign up. If you do lemme know your bib # and I'll keep an eye out for you! AND I promise not to trip OR kick you! ('tho I might pat you on the back!) ;)

Good luck!

Me and my friend, maybe it sounds stupid or unrealistic are highschool cross country runners, good ones. maybe it could be considered a dream of ours to run in boston. we know we can do it but cant register. maybe we are crossing the line here but its something that would mean a damn lot to us.

And you can't do it because?...

If it's your age and it would mean a damn lot to you isn't it worth waiting and working for?

And if it's because your good but not quite good enough (i.e., can't qualify at your age) then why would you deserve to be there?

I'm gonna guess it's an age thing and your fast enough but not quite old enough. I say just keep working and waiting. When you get there you'll just be faster and it will mean a damn lot more if it's official...

Also, 15 mile long runs for XC arent 26.2 miles. It might just be harder than you think to do at this stage in life. Thats not to say you cant.

i cant run it because im 16, i have run marathon distances before, maybe ill just have to wait another 2 years

Just ran Boston as a Bandit for the second time. Great fun and wild weather.
More than 2k registered runners did not show. Flame away!

All I know is that there were several bandits ahead of my corral that clearly didn't qualify and suitably blocked the course. I hope you at least lined up with those that were going your pace. Seems as though you had to be pretty sneaky to get in as they were guarding the small corral entry points fairly well.

How did it go formation? I heard the wind was a bit of hard work

The wind during the race wasn't nearly as bad as it was while waiting for it to start or the night before. I really didn't think the conditions were all that bad. Here's my report:


With the HAT run 50k from 3 weeks ago, and the Umstead 100 2 weeks ago, I can officially call my approach to Boston this year "the mega-anti-taper." Days before Umstead, I wasn't sure I'd even be able to run Boston, much less run it well. But my recovery from Umstead was better and quicker than expected, so I made plans right away for a good race, hopefully best of a year, maybe even a PR, and a glimmer of hope for sub-3:10. Weather reports leading up were ominous, with heavy rain and continuous headwind projected, which, the night before could be heard through the night. It was the stuff that tears apart umbrellas in their tracks!

The day before, I started a run, just before the storm, from my hotel in Cambridge, then joined in the Freedom run that starts from the marathon finish (2.5 miles), then back over to the Charles River for a few more miles, to make a nice, pleasant 8.5 mile run. It was a low mileage week for me, with about 63 miles running. That's the best taper you're gonna get out of me.

Race morning, I headed to the T-station at 5:40 am, on to the shuttle pick-up in Boston common. Cold, windy, and rainy. The ride to the start area was about 1 hour and 20 minutes. When we arrived, it was still more than 2 hours before race time, so I had a bagel and a banana. I met up with Craig, whom I planned to run the race with - he's much faster than I but he didn't want to push to hard and he was happy to start way back in my 5th corral instead of his 2nd corral. The race kicked off at 10 with some light rain and very mild winds. Really, generally comfortable. We at least got to the corrals early and started at the front of the 5th corral, but even with that, I really wasn't able to keep the pace that I wanted for the first 6 miles, especially the first 2. I started being able to pick it up a bit in the 3rd mile, and by the 5th, it became clear that Craig wasn't as interested in pushing a bit hard as I was, so he stayed back on one of my surges to get around traffic. I think I was winding back and forth wildly for the first 10 miles and I really never remember a time when it wasn't at least a little bit crowded. Also, I made it a point to try give the high 5 to most of the kids on both sides of the road, so I really was zigzagging quite a bit. I felt great. I was amazed at the course support, reminding me a lot of Grandma's marathon, except with a much bigger running field. There were a few bouts of standing water and some wind gusts, but all-in-all I didn't mind it and it was much better than expected. The winners' times were around 7 minutes slower than usual, so clearly the conditions were a factor. I was bouncing back forth between low 7s pace, with a few high 6s sprinkled in. As always, I slowed tremendously on the ups, sometimes to around an 8:30 pace, and sped up on the downs, sometimes to about 5:15/mile. At around the halfway point, I heard a loud roar approaching from quite a distance. As I came closer, I noticed it was the famed Wellesley College cheering section, which was just incredible. It gave me a boost for quite a while. I was actually very happy through the race until heart break hill, where it started to become work. I didn't think it was particularly steep, but it was long and chiseled at my fatigue. I thought after that point it would be all downhill, but not quite. I was still on pace for sub-3:10 for quite a while, but it became clear from my GPS (which was getting great signal the whole race) that all of my zigzagging was adding a good bit of distance. I ended up crossing the 26.2 mile point on GPS at 3:09:30, but I hadn't even hit the 26 mile sign yet. Not surprising. Nonetheless, I knew I had a PR in the bag if I were to just muster up some semblance of effort here. I don't usually like running at this level of pain, but something told me that today was going to be a PR and I would snag that no matter what. Coming in at 3:11:56, I was happy with only a tidbit of disappointment. Can't complain too much about a PR though, especially in a race that's tough to PR in! This was definitely a race worth doing!

Why don't you just train for it, qualify and run it legit? Then you'll be part of the official history of the greatest marathon in the world. You will belong there, and it may sound corny but it will mean a hell of lot more than just being a gate crasher.