I can't answer this for everyone, but as someone who has run 5 marathons and is running my 6th in 5 weeks (Frankfurt).
Boston has some kind of mythical status among marathoners. You're _not_ really there until you've qualified for Boston. I do not know where this comes from, but what I do know is that QUALIFYING for Boston as a male (33) is a BHAG that's fun to chase after.
Boston is the 6th of the 6 Abbot Marathon that are considered the "big" 6.
New York, London, Chicago, Boston, Berlin and Tokyo. All the others you either win the lottery our you've 4 of the other ones. Nothing you can really do in 6 conseq years.
It's not even the fastest course, but it's the course for those who are "serious" about running as a hobby. Running a marathon isn't enough. Running Boston separates you from the try-hard crowd, with a lack of a better word.
> Boston has some kind of mythical status among marathoners. You're _not_ really there until you've qualified for Boston. I do not know where this comes from
It's literally because BQ is a tough target time. Even if you don't run Boston it's a mark you're in the top X% (X is a bit hard to calculate). So it's a status symbol. Just like 'Ivy League' or "D1 sport".
Similarly in the UK, it's the London qualifying time known as Good For Age or the more challenging 'Championship Place'.
And it's self-fulfilling. You get the time so you chose to run because you have it which keeps the time hard for others.
The race itself is, I'm told, a pain-in-the-ass because of the logistics but also the profile - despite being net-downhill it's got a nasty hill at mile 20. Plus with the race route being pretty much "26 miles straight, then hook a right", if there's a headwind, there's a headwind for 26 miles. If there's driving rain, it's in your face for 26 miles (see 2018's race).
(As an aside, there's a few tricks for the Abbot Majors to get places [aside from just buying one of the expensive guaranteed tour company places or being an elite runner])
I've always thought it was a real shame that the Boston Marathon is so mythical, because there's a much more symbolic potential route: start at the Old North Church in the North End (the "one if by land, two if by sea" place), through downtown/the common/Back Bay, then take Mass Ave all the way to the Lexington Battle Green (site of the first battle of the revolution), and that's almost exactly half a marathon in distance while more-or-less reenacting the Midnight Ride.
An otherwise unmotivated position sustained as desirable only by the difficulty generated by the number of people trying to crowd into it serves as a deeper representation of this country than the story you're proposing to replace it with. ;)
Not a marathon runner but live in Boston and I have been told the route is fairly high difficulty due to hills in particularly challenging stretches. Not sure how true this is but one of my coworkers ran it competitively last year and he got wrecked by the elevation changes.
The first couple of miles are downhill. You're also running with a very large densely-packed group who are just as fast as you. It's very easy to get sucked along to run much faster than you planned for the first few miles.
The Newton Hills, esp. Heartbreak Hill, are near where many people will hit the proverbial wall, distance-wise. Having to go up ever-steeper hills at the same time can be really taxing.
There are so many things that can go slightly wrong, and when you have to endure those slight inconveniences for 26.2 miles/2+ hours, it can feel like an aerobic Chinese water torture.
The year I ran, we had a tailwind, so I had an relatively easy time of it.
Come to Baltimore and check out Satyr Hill. It is very easy to leave your legs behind and not realize that until you have four to six miles to go and no energy.
(But what do I know? I haven't run Baltimore since 1984.)
Boston has some kind of mythical status among marathoners. You're _not_ really there until you've qualified for Boston. I do not know where this comes from, but what I do know is that QUALIFYING for Boston as a male (33) is a BHAG that's fun to chase after.
Boston is the 6th of the 6 Abbot Marathon that are considered the "big" 6. New York, London, Chicago, Boston, Berlin and Tokyo. All the others you either win the lottery our you've 4 of the other ones. Nothing you can really do in 6 conseq years.
It's not even the fastest course, but it's the course for those who are "serious" about running as a hobby. Running a marathon isn't enough. Running Boston separates you from the try-hard crowd, with a lack of a better word.