Boston Marathon Live Blog

Hi All,

Sat down very early this morning on the couch, and wanted to post thoughts during today's running of the elite women and elite men's race...could be a very big day for American running!

Again, the list of top contenders in today's race was nicely summarized by letsrun.com. The women's list is here, with the odds-on fave being Dire Tune followed by Bezunesh Bekele and Kara Goucher. The men's list is here, with them picking Robert Cheruiyot to win his 4th title in a row, followed by Hall and Ethiopian Deriba Merga.


Elite Women are about to begin - Interviewing Kara Goucher with 30 seconds before the start. Says she wants to hold on and then sprint at the end. Ha. Wish marathoning was that easy.

Someone forgot to tell the women that this is a race. First mile was a very very very pedestrian 6:26. If every mile took that long it would take them 2:50+ to finish. Since we expect 2:25, they will need to pick it up considerably! Second mile was 6:02, third mile they got under 6 minutes barely, with them going through 5K in 18:59, which puts them on 2:40 pace...there are still 15-20 women all together thru the first half hour.

Elite men should be starting soon. Question asked to Ryan Hall at the start line - What will be the hardest part of the race? His answer ="I'm not anticipating it to be very tough. I'm going for a smooth ride into Boston!" Sounds confident! And he compared today's weather in Boston (cool and windy) and says that it is much nicer than his normal training grounds in Mammoth, California.

Stupid announcers are talking to Brian Sell (probably the second fastest American) with 20 seconds until the gun. Sell is not at all interested in doing the interview. Says he will try and run his own race, go out slow, and try and finish fast. We'll see...

Gun goes off. Men are not repeating the women's start. Ryan Hall starts like he's a rabbit! He's on a dead sprint for the first km, really trying to put some pressure on the men's field. The men's lead pack is under 15 runners by mile 1 (4:39 or so). Ridiculous...but I do like the fact that he's taking the race by storm!

The weather is cool (mid 40's, which is about 7 or 8 degrees Celsius) but probably great for running fast. The announcers say there is a decent headwind which might slow the field a bit...the majority of elite women are wearing gloves and/or arm warmers. Mary Akor(another American), who won the Vancouver Marathon last year, is wearing tights, a windbreaker, and a hat! The men are much less over-dressed, with only Ryan Hall wearing arm warmers and gloves. All the Africans are just wearing singlets...interesting...

Women just went though 10K in 37:06. Speeding up (almost a minute faster than first 5K) but there are still a huge pack of women in the lead pack. On pace for a 2:36 finish, but all the top women are still there. No one has even tried to stretch out the field yet...

Men hit 5K in 14:33 (which is world record pace - just under 2:03) but the chances of a world record on this course are zero. Hall just trying to cut the pack as quickly as possible. I think all the big names are still there. There are actually three Cheruiyot's in the field, including two guys named Robert Cheruiyot (the defending champ is Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, with a 20-year old Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot also a top contender). Evans Cheruiyot is also a big-time contender...when in doubt, bet on a Cheruiyot...

Ryan Hall continues to push the pace, happy to run from the front and string out the pack. The defending champ is right on his shoulder - seemingly letting Hall know that any pace would be fine with him. Can Hall keep it up? Kara Goucher is alternating between running at the front of the pack (still 15 deep) and tucking into the pack. The announcer just said that Goucher and her speedy husband Adam are going to try and get pregnant following this race, which would then give her lots of time to get back into race shape for the 2012 Olympics.


Men go thru 10K in 29:27...still on 2:04 pace. 13 men in the lead pack, which is still being lead by Hall. Ryan Hall does have the fastest PR in the field, so maybe he's trying to wean out the 2:09 guys by setting the pace so high. Men's record in Boston is only 2:07:14. Ryan Hall finally sheds his arm warmers and gloves. All the women are still wearing their warm clothes...I'm surprised that only four or five women in the top 15 are not wearing gloves or arm warmers. Women hit 15K in 55:41 which is still 2:36 pace. Very slow...someone will make a move soon...

Men just got to 15K in 44:45 (sub 2:06 pace) which is about right. Men's pack is down to 11 or 12 guys...Ryan Hall is not leading right now and is tucked into the pack. One white guy and a whole big group of Africans.

Okay, women got to 20K in 1:14 and half-way in 1:18:12 (which is still 2:36 pace). To put that into perspective, the winner of the women's race has been sub 2:30 every year since 1985, which is also the last time an American won the race. Might be good karma for Goucher...they just flashed a graphic that the women are already 8 minutes off the course record at half way. I doubt that the fast runners want to keep the lead pack so large since it would allow anyone in the top 12-15 to win in a late sprint. Too bad that Canada's Lioudmila Kortchaguina isn't running, since she has already ran a 2:30 marathon in 2009 (Houston Marathon in January) and could be in this pack for sure.

Men finally got to half way in 63:40 (2:07 pace) with 12 guys still in the lead pack. Ryan Hall still tucked into the back of the men's pack, and all the men are starting to look around and see who will make the next move.

Women are thru 25K and finally down to 10 women in 1:32. They finally broke 18 minutes for a 5K interval. However, they are still only on 2:35 pace. The Kenyan archrivals Tune and Bekele (keep reading the next paragraph for the amazing story) both have taken turns at the front. American Colleen DeReuck is giving Goucher some a teammate at the front of the women's pack. DeReuck is a masters runner who has competed in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympics (both marathon and 10,000m) for South Africa. But this slow pace is keeping her in the lead group with less than 10 miles to go...

Dire Tune is only 24, but has already run 10 elite marathons, including her win in Boston in 2008. That win was worth $150,000 to her, and made all her training worth it (she says she runs twice a day, 7 days a week, but takes Sunday PM off!). She also was the only Ethiopian finisher in the Olympic Marathon, but the story is very interesting. Ethiopia had 5 women in the running for the 3 spots, but despite winning Boston last spring, she was only the 4th -highest rated runner going into the last training camp. However, her performance in camp lead the coaches to pick her for the last spot over Bezunesh Bekele. This lead to a fight on a bus after Bekele accused Tune of not being deserving of the Olympic spot. This wasn't the last bit of drama. A couple of days later, Bekele's husband pulled a gun on Tune, her husband, and their training partner Deriba Merga (who is running today at the front of the men's race). Bekele's husband never was charged but this illustrates how much of a contentious situation it was. Tune considered quitting the team, but did stay mentally focused and finished 15th in Beijing. It will be interesting to see if Tune and Bekele go shoulder-to-shoulder until the finish line. And we better watch Bekele's husband if things don't go well for Bekele...

The men's race has picked up finally. Stephen Kiogora (a Kenyan who trains in Colorado) took off and tried to stretch the pace. But the group was able to reel him in, and Robert Cheruiyot and Ethiopian Deriba Merga countered and it looks like the men's pack is gone. Ryan Hall is at the back at the group and can't respond. It's now 2 Ethiopians and a Kenyan in the top 3 (Merga and Molla are Ethiopians at the front, and Daniel Rono is now the only Kenyan with them. The rest of the men are all stretched out...the guys had just passed 25k in 76 minutes (2:08 pace) before this latest surge.

The womens race is still pedestrian by elite standards. Another slow 5K (almost 19 minutes) put them thru 30K in 1:50 (still 2:36 pace). The group is still all together and Goucher is at the front of the pack and controlling the race nicely. The women's pace is so slow that they could conceivably be caught by the elite men despite their 30 minute headstart.

Merga now has open road ahead. He has shed his teammate Molla and Kenyan Rono and has a decent lead (5 seconds over Rono, 15 seconds over Hall who is now in a group in 4th). A nice recovery for Hall, who still a shot if Merga slows at all.

Women got to Heartbreak Hill with a lead group of 7 or so...Goucher is leading the group and looks strong. I actually don't like her chances since some of the Kenyans might be better sprinters. She's having a great run so far with 5 miles to go!

Merga's break has him thru 30K in 1:31 with a big lead. Now has 10 seconds over Rono and 18 seconds over Ryan Hall. He's now in third place but Merga is looking super-strong. Hall is trying to close the gap and is making a good push on second place Daniel Rono.

35K for the women in 2:08:47 which is still 2:35 pace but only 7 women to go. Goucher is still leading the group (as she has most of the last 10K). Awesome effort...

Another fast 5K for Merga has him thru 35K in 1:46 and he now has a comfortable 36 second lead over...Ryan Hall! Hall has recovered and if Merga slows at all (the commentators love telling stories how Merga has slowed at the end of most of his marathons), Hall might be able to catch him.

Goucher and Tune and Bekele are still 1-2-3 but the women's pack is still 6 deep with 5K to go. The last mile was 5:18 so the women have really turned it on! They just lost another women so now is down to 5...Goucher still at the front! She still has the Ethiopians on her shoulder (Tune and Bekele) and the two Kenyans (Kosgei and Kiprop) right behind them.

Merag looks comfortable in the mens race as he flies up the hills. He has only 12 minutes or so to go, and looks great. You can't even see Hall in the long camera shots, so it looks like Merga has the race tied up unless he slows considerably...just announced he's 50 seconds back...and defending champion Robert Cheruiyot has just dropped out.

Women's race is epic! Goucher, Tune, and Kosgei are now top 3 thru 40K. Interestingly, Goucher skipped the water station whereas Tune and Kosgei both took water. Goucher still at the front and looks amazing! Another 5:11 mile! With about a mile to go, Dire Tune and Salina Kosgei finally took the lead from Goucher but they are still all together...Goucher starting to show some tightness while Tune still looks smooth...2:30 and they still are all together!

Tune and Kosgei have gotten a gap on Goucher...epic finish with less than a mile to go! Can Goucher get back on? Tune, Kosgei side-by-side! A sprint finish! Kosgei wins!! By one second. Tune collapses at finish line! Goucher third...9 seconds back. Closest finish ever! Remarkable, the women, who were on 2:35 pace at 35K, managed to finish in 2:32! A ridiculous closing pace by the 3 women who were there at the end. Easily the biggest win ever for Kosgei, who was 4th in London last year and 10th at the Olympics.




Merga couldn't catch the women but will easily win the men's race in just over 2:08. It appears Daniel Rono and Ryan Hall will finish 2-3 about a minute later.


Overall, a great day of racing, with two third place finishers for Americans. And Ryan Hall is being interviewed at the finish and even admitted that the course "was harder than i expected". Ha...final results are now available here...


See you Friday for a more typical Bikey!