About Jason and Matt

I ran more than ever before in 2010 and I haven’t had a serious running injury in three years. I just bettered my marathon time to 2:39:32 at the Philadelphia Marathon.

ITBS and my journey to healthy running prompted me to start Strength Running, a blog and coaching site that helps other runners where I used to fail. You’ll find that training philosophy in the workouts and running advice in RYBQ.

Strength Running has grown quickly in the last two years, now hosting tens of thousands of readers every month. It’s even been featured in major media like Yahoo, Lifehacker, and Fitness Magazine. I’ve coached about a hundred runners 1-on-1 or by writing personalized training plans – and almost all of them are running faster than ever. That’s what I want to help you do.

RYBQ is about achieving huge goals, seemingly impossible goals like being one of the gifted runners toeing the line in Hopkinton. Getting to that starting line isn’t impossible, but it’s going to take a great training plan, lots of hard work, a community of other runners to support you, and some guidance.

Your chances of qualifying for Boston are going to skyrocket.

Matt Frazier

If Jason is our resident gifted runner, I’m the guy who is anything but.I hated running as a kid, dreading the one day each year that we had to run the mile in gym class. I even quit my youth lacrosse team because we had to run so much in practice, and never once did I run more than a mile without stopping until I got into fitness in college.And when I finally did become a runner and train for my first marathon, it wasn’t pretty. I finished, but it took me four hours and 53 minutes (and to this day it was the most I’ve ever hurt).

So what am I doing creating a website about qualifying for the Boston Marathon?

Well, you might say that getting to Boston became my obsession after that dreadful first marathon experience. When I found out that they didn’t let just anyone in, that you had to prove you were good enough, some part of me just knew that I had to get there.

It would take a 3:10 marathon to get in, more than 100 minutes faster than my first time. But somehow, the enormity of that gap made the goal even more inspiring.

As you might have guessed, I did it. It took me close to seven years of improving my time in each successive marathon I ran. I watched my times drop quickly at first as I learned the fundamentals of good training and avoiding injury, but as I got closer to 3:10, I had to work much harder, experimenting with different training and nutrition approaches and anything else I could to squeeze a few more minutes out of what I had to work with.

When I finally qualified at the 2009 Wineglass Marathon, it was the most rewarding experience of my life. And the victory lap — the actual Boston Marathon, with all its history and allure — was just as sweet.

After my BQ, I started running ultramarathons, and since then I’ve run two 50-milers and several 50K’s (I’m still thinking about a 100-miler). I also run a website about running, called No Meat Athlete (going vegetarian was actually what finally got me from 3:20 down to sub-3:10).

My journey to Boston forced me to learn how to squeeze everything there is out of the body and talent you’ve got, and to accomplish running goals that, to some, might seem impossible. And that’s how I want to help you get to Boston too.