[mountaineer]

My husband has run the Boston Marathon several times and will do so again in 2005. He can recount the years and his exact times without hesitation. Of course, he had to run qualifiers to get into the Boston Marathon. If Kerry actually did run Boston, which I doubt, he must have gotten in on some kind of exemption.

[HawaiianGecko]

Good point. You did have to run qualifiers and you had to break 3 hrs in order to qualify to run the Boston in the 70's. This was at the time of Frank Shorter and 2:09 time to run the 26 mile, 385 yard event. You couldn't just stroll into the pack because you were a local.

[Bogey78O]

That's what I was thinking. The marathon has qualifiers. Not just anyone can walk in. Not even Mr. "Do you know who I am?"

[ironman]

Having run Boston 4 times myself, Kerry is not entitled to claim he "Did" the Boston marathon even if he was a bandit. Maybe he got in on an exemption one year but there is no evidence of that. I do not know when the Boston Athletic Association went to qualifying time standards, but the only instance in recent history when there were not standards was in 1996, for the 100th edition, when they had a "non-qualified" division. Time standards actually used to be a little tougher years ago. You still need to be in a near-elite class to qualify.

If you've only run one or two you'd know right off the top of your head the year and time. On the other hand, I've run so many and did so many other athletic events I need minute to go back thru my memory and reconstruct which years I ran and what my times were. But that is easily done. My best guess, Kerry is exaggerating (surprise), he's never officially run the Boston Marathon.

[AmericanMade1776]

I have watched the Boston Marathon, and as I said, My friend ran in the Boston Marathon, and when you run 26 miles non stop, you remember it. It even takes you days to recover.