The Inside Lane

IF YOU’RE THE kind of person who likes to race a lot, 2020 was a stinker of a year. And 2021 didn’t start out much better. But marathon season is back, baby! That is, assuming the Delta variant doesn’t throw a wrench in the plans.

- ​Trevor Raab

The pandemic-fueled postponement of races has led to the most concentrated fall race schedule ever, especially for the World Marathon Majors—all six races will be contested in just a six-week span. Typically, Boston, London, and Tokyo marathons are held in the spring, with Berlin, Chicago, and New York City being spread out over September, October, and November, respectively. For the jet-set types, that makes it easy to run a couple (or more) of the Majors in any given year. But, this year is trickier. If you want to run Chicago (October 10) and Boston (October 11), it would take some careful planning.

RW writer Andrew Dawson did the calculations on just what it would take to pull off such a stunt. First, there’s the cost: $180 entry to Boston and $205 to Chicago. Then there are hotel fees. Have you seen the prices for a room in those cities on a race weekend? Ouch.