WOODLANDS, Texas – Any long-distance runner knows a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon is usually not a speed you can easily repeat.
The training that goes into running 26.2 miles in well under 3.5 to four hours, depending on your age, takes time and sacrifice, which is why some runners from The Woodlands said a mistake this weekend left them heartbroken and ineligible for the 2018 Boston Marathon.
Last weekend, about 120 people might have qualified for a coveted spot in the Boston Marathon but the runners missed a turn and were led on a shorter path.
This time last week, 38-year-old mother of two Rebecca Tortorici said she was Boston-bound.
"With The Woodlands Marathon, the stars aligned. The weather was perfect," she said.
Her Houston Marathon time wasn't fast enough to qualify her for next year's Boston Marathon. So, she made quick training changes to run in The Woodlands just six weeks later.
This was supposed to be the golden ticket but the race didn't feel right.
"We knew by mile two that something was off. We all have our Garmin watches and it wasn't registering," she said. "You see the time and you're, like 'Oh my goodness, I can't believe that. I've never been that fast,' and then you know. You're talking to other people and they're, like, 'Hey, it's short. It's short by quite a bit.'"
Runners were going south on Grogan's Mill Road. They were supposed to turn on High Timbers Drive through the East Shore neighborhood but were misguided and instructed to stay on Grogan's Mill Road. That eliminated 0.8 miles of the race.
"About 7:25, I received a call from my lead cyclist," Willie Fowlkes, Woodlands Marathon race director, said of the moment he realized everything had gone wrong.
He said race staff thought they could add distance to the course -- which would later have to be recertified by the Boston Athletic Association -- but was told some runners made the turn and some did not.
"We went, interviewed the police officer at this intersection to see how many runners made the turn and he said some. Now, we don't know who made the turn and who went straight so it becomes a little more difficult," Fowlkes said.
He spent this week asking for the Boston Athletic Association to give the qualifying runners pass. Boston officially said Thursday they refuse.
The Woodlands Marathon is now offering a voucher to runners who would have qualified.
"It's the best we can do," Fowlkes said.
Tortorici said she cannot think about that now. She's busy pounding pavement for her first Boston Marathon in April. It could be her last if her body is not up to racing 26.2 miles again in 38 days.
"It's hard to recover from a marathon. So, I'm going to have to be pushing my body harder than normal to try to qualify for Boston at the actual Boston race instead of enjoying Boston, taking selfies and just having a fun run," Tortorici said.
In the past, the BAA has waved participantswho suffered from mistakes such as this into the race. Last weekend, courses in The Woodlands and in Florida were accidentally cut short.
Fowlkes thinks because of the frequency of human error, BAA is not making any more exceptions to their rule.