Your cart is currently empty!
No bags, no worries
I was surprised by the total lack of reaction to the BAA’s announcement about no bags.
Was I the last person to hear about this? Or is no one concerned because they are not running Boston this year?
Packing Heavy
It’s pretty much standard practice for most runners I know to over pack. Running is all about actively controlling what you can and being as prepared as possible for factors that you cannot control. What you pack is one of the things you can control.
I’ve run The Boston Marathon five times. A few times I got to sit on a nice warm motor coach with a bathroom. Several times I’ve spent hours sitting on the Hopkinton High School football field. It is usually cool and can be cold and damp. The last thing I want messing up my race is hypothermia.
I’ve been searching the BAA’s web site and I can’t find anything that mentions bags or how the bag drop will work. I sent an email to Mark Davis, the BAA Communications Director, asking for clarification. Maybe I heard wrong?
At the training clinic, no one said a word when Mr. Grilk talked about the new policy. No one asked a question. The crowd was mostly newbies so maybe they didn’t understand what this means. I should have asked but I was more concerned with getting some advice on my knee. If I can’t get to the starting line, a drop bag is moot.
BAA Clinic #1
This link will take you to the BAA’s YouTube page where you can see the presentations. I did not see Thomas Grilk’s talk in this video.
Run well my friends!
Andy
ยฉ 2014 anagelin
google.com, pub-4167727599129474, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
8 responses to “No bags, no worries”
You could understand if it were purely due to security sensitivities after last year’s bombing.
That said, the New York Marathon announced a similar no-bags policy two years ago and there was uproar, especially as the announcement was made after runners had already entered the race. As it happened, that was the year of the storm that forced the race to be called off.
I’m waiting to hear back from the BAA Communications Director on this. I have not seen or heard an announcement about this. I did not see any mention of this on the BAA web siter either.
They really need to get this out there soon. Maybe they just want to avoid months of people whining.
This could be a major PIA.
How did you hear about it?
I was at their clinic Monday night and the Exec. Dir mentioned it during his opening comments.
Interesting, thanks – could he have been flying a kite to gauge reaction before an official announcement?
Could be. He didn’t make a big deal of it as I recall. It was just part of his comments.
But no one said anything. I wish I had now. But like I said, I was focused on my knee.
Hopefully I’ll hear back from the BAA today.
You can see why they might want to have control over who is bringing what near the race course, but no bags seems like an over reaction. Whether it is or it isn’t I don’t know how you function straight after a marathon with no warm clothes to change into. My last endurance event was in 85 degrees and I still needed to get to my bag soon after finishing. Fingers crossed.
I think last year was a one-off event. I know they have to ramp up security to atleast make us feel better.
So they make me take a paper bag to Hopkinton and freeze my ass off sitting on a football field. Great.
How are they going to make 26.2 miles of street safe from some looney?
I find it highly unlikely that a runner is going to pack a bomb in their bag and send it back to Boston on a bus. How big could the bomb be? How much control would they have over where it would go off?
It would be a tragedy if a bomb went off on a bus heading back to Boston, but we’re not talking about a 9/11 type of impact.
Wow. I bet the NSA is watching me now. I just used a few magic words. Yikes!
Good thing I’m a boring middle aged dude with a house and 2 kids in college. Joe pair of sneakers.