6:51

 6:51. That's a lot of time. 

It's more than most songs. 

It's more than most people can hold their breath. 

16 seconds every mile of the marathon. 

It's more than a mile for the youngest and fastest groups trying to qualify for Boston. 

To anyone on that border, where you met the 2025 standard and have been cut-off, and now have new standards to meet in 2026, it's time to go back to work. Grieve but don't sulk. Refocus on things within your control. The bar has been raised, in service to all that you can become.

If this race is the singular achievement that you're looking for in endurance running, you will get there. I struggle with people who believe that their best days are behind them and see their continued improvement as impossible. It's the runners who don't give up, that are consistent and bridge between seasons, that win in the end.

You learn more about yourself in adversity than you will ever learn about yourself in success.

So if you're inclined to think of this as a set-back. Something that was done to you. You were robbed of an achievement that was already in hand. 

Consider this a gift. You haven't made as much progress as you think, your journey is not over. And if that causes you discomfort, dread for the work that's to come, or denial that there's something left to prove. You were only ever interested in the outcome.