2011 Boston Marathon Registration: Open and Shut!

2011 Boston Marathon registration opened AND closed today, by far the fastest the field has filled for the race. I’m not surprised it happened this quickly, but it’s still shocking to know that anybody who waited more than seven hours to get in will be shut out.

The Boston Athletic Association made this quick sellout happen with a shrewd gamble last year. On October 29, the BAA sent out an email blast announcing the race was close to filling. I didn’t believe the email, because the race sold out somewhere around late January or early February for the 2009 race. I was convinced it wasn’t close to full. But after about 30 minutes, I realized I was also convinced that tons of folks would take the bait and register. So I registered.

You get a registration number when you register. Mine was 20013971. I don’t know the numbering scheme for certain, but I’d be shocked if it wasn’t incremental. In 2009, my number was 9018681 when I registered about a week before it closed. It makes perfect sense that I was registrant No. 18681 in 2009. While the email blast last October said registration was close to filling, I firmly believe fewer than 14,000 had actually registered for more than 20,000 available spaces. Note: I don’t know my number from 2008, although I registered in October of 2007 and I think the race filled around March of 2008 and it hadn’t filled in a while.

Anyways, last year’s race filled about a week after that email blast. Once that happened, Boston had a reputation as a race that filled early and everybody knew to jump early this year. They took a gamble with the email blast and it paid off. I suspected the race would fill within a week, but maybe even within a day. I registered this morning and I’m in. I’m pacing a 3:40 group in Mankato, Minn. this weekend and I’ve been thinking that even though I’ll be leading those folks to qualifying times, they wouldn’t be able to run until 2012. Sure enough, that’s the case.

I suspect there will be changes for 2012. If neither of these come to fruition, I’ll be surprised. If both do, I won’t be.

1. Price increases? Obviously, with demand considerably higher going forward and supply the same, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the price takes a nice hike next year.

2. Tougher qualifying standards? There are more than enough runners to fill the field. The BAA could raise the bar and toughen the qualifying standards. The race would still fill and qualifying for Boston would be even more prestigious than it already is.

It’s definitely an interesting day for marathon runners. If you wanted to get in, I hope you did!