the morning shakeout | issue 545
Some observations and experiences from yesterday's Boston Marathon.
Good morning! Last night I flew home from Boston and as we were lining up to board, the gate agent announced that there were issues with the plane’s WiFi and we would be offline for the entirety of the six-hour flight. (The horror!) I mention this off the top here only because it totally derailed my plans to work on this week’s issue in my usual way, i.e., going through the various links saved in my Notes file and sharing the things I’ve come across recently that I found interesting, entertaining, inspiring, and/or insightful. So, I just wrote about what I observed and experienced at yesterday's Boston Marathon instead.
Where to even start? The weather seems as good a place as any, so let’s go there first. F*ck, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I met up with Tim Tollefson at 7:30 for an out-n-back run along the course, starting from the finish line on Boylston Street and heading west toward mile 22, and we were hit with an annoying headwind almost immediately. I turned around a little after 4 miles while Tim kept going out toward Newton and it felt like I was floating back into downtown. It was like 2011 all over again. Anyone who’s been around Boston long enough just knew it was gonna be a day. And what a day it was.
In the men’s race, John Korir put the hammer down on Heartbreak Hill once again, running away from everyone to defend his title in an absurd 2:01:52, splitting a 60:02 second half—up and over the hills! Behind him, Alphonce Felix Simbu and Benson Kipruto finished second and third, respectively, both running sub-2:03, also under Geoffrey Mutai’s previous course record of 2:03:02. And although it won’t be official because Boston is not a record-eligible course, Zouhair Talbi ran 2:03:45 for fifth, making him the fastest American marathoner of all time. Charles Hicks finished two places behind him in 2:04:35, making him the second fastest American marathoner of all time. Finally, just to paint a quick picture of the depth in this year’s race, 13 guys broke 2:06 and 28 men ran under 2:10 (including 12 Americans). To provide even more perspective, my friend Lou Serafini, who ran 2:15 and change to qualify for his fourth Olympic Trials, finished in like 50th place. [Congrats Lou! Also, insert mind-blown emoji here.]
The women’s race, in contrast, started off a bit more subdued. It did not end that way. There were something like 18 women in the lead pack running 2:22 pace for a long time. No one wanted to lead or make a move. That is, until American Annie Frisbie started pushing the pace a couple times in the Newton hills. She never created that much of a gap, but she was sure trying to do something, prompting me to text a few friends that “maybe this is her Des Linden moment.” That turned out to be a bit premature (though Frisbie did end up having a great race, finishing 8th in 2:22) and it wasn’t long before business really started to pick up. Kenyan Sharon Lokedi found her way to the front and decided that she was done playing around. I was half-paying attention to the feed while keeping tabs on my own athletes, but I heard the commentators announcing that she was laying down mile splits like 4:48, 4:41, and I swear I heard them say 4:30-something at one point, too. Her 5K split from 35-40K was 14:46 or 48, and she broke the tape in 2:18:51. I caught Mary Ngugi-Cooper of Kenya in third in 2:20-low, and Jess McClain as the top American in fifth, running 2:20:50, I believe, making her the fastest-ever American woman at Boston. And if my memory is serving me correctly (please forgive me if it isn’t), there were four American women in the top-10. [Insert another mind-blown emoji here.]
After the races wrapped up, I heard and saw some chatter that suggested people ran times they otherwise weren’t capable of because of the tailwind. To that I say, give me a f*cking break. While the weather certainly helped a lot of peoples’ causes, there are no “gimmes” in the marathon, especially Boston. You still have to train hard, race smart, and execute on the day, tailwind be damned. Sure, you can argue that Boston isn’t a record-eligible course due to its net downhill, point-to-point profile, but in my opinion, it’s as honest a marathon course as you’ll ever find. To race it well you have to be really fit, annoyingly patient, and incredibly tough. Most years the weather is less-than-ideal and the times you see don’t always reflect the quality of the performances. If anything, looking at what people ran yesterday, from the folks at the front to my own athletes and other runners I know, many ran what their training showed they were capable of on an ideal day, which, in many ways, it was. There were also more than a few people who got chewed up and spit out for one reason or another: maybe they weren’t as prepared as they thought, or maybe they got too greedy and paid for it, or maybe they just had a rough day. But that’s the marathon, man. Sometimes your hard work pays off, but it doesn’t owe you anything.
After meeting up with some of my athletes, I walked from the finish line area back to my hotel to grab my bags and hustle to the airport. The streets and sidewalks were packed with marathoners, shivering and shuffling their way back to their hotels, or cars, or wherever it was they were trying to get to. The emotion was everywhere and impossible to ignore. I heard someone let out a primal scream, I watched a woman bawl her eyes out while hugging another runner, I saw a guy lift his partner off the ground and spin her around in celebration, and I noticed a dude just staring off into space. The most impactful thing I witnessed, however, was just how kind everyone was being to one another in the aftermath of the race, from runners fist-bumping and hugging one another, to random people on the street congratulating complete strangers on what they had just accomplished. It put a big smile on my face and made me think of something Tommy Rivers Puzey told me a few years ago on my podcast: If you're ever losing faith in humanity, go watch a marathon. It’s impossible to not be moved by it.
Thanks for reading,
Mario
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It was a day, indeed.
I loved the feel-good details in your final paragraph :-)