Boston Marathon 2011
Some truly incredible performances| 1. | Geoffrey Mutai | KEN | 2:03:02 |
| 2. | Moses Mosop | KEN | 2:03:06 |
Sub-world record performances--by about 50 seconds!
| 4. | Ryan Hall | USA | 2:04:58 |
| 1. | Caroline Kilel | KEN | 2:22:36 |
| 2. | Desiree Davila | USA | 2:22:38 |
| 3. | Sharon Cherop | KEN | 2:22:42 |
A dash to the finish with the first three only 6 seconds apart! Desiree Davila's finish the American course record for women and a PR by four minutes.
| 5. | Kara Goucher | USA | 2:24:52 |
This is a Boston Marathon that will be remembered and talked about for years!
My schedule was such that I had to content myself with video clips online, but even with those, the electricity of this race just flashed out.
But there's another group with whom I have a more personal connection through my friend Neil Weygandt, who completed (despite an upset stomach and hip problems that impeded his training) his 45th Boston Marathon, the longest streak running--the Cal Ripken of the Boston Marathon, one might say.
Following in Neil's footsteps is a group called the Quarter Century Club--runners who have completed 25 or more Bostons. Because Neil doesn't use e-mail, I have had the privilege of being on their e-mail list and learning about their hopes and disappointments and perseverance, and so wrote them this e-mail, which I want to share:
***
To the QCC--
There were some great performances today, including some impressive ones by Americans. But the "less sung heroes" are QCC'ers who keep on coming back, year after year, through fast times and slow, loving this event and committing to it and giving it your best shot every time, whether the "best shot" is a sub-3 or just on the inside of 6 hours.
You've seen Boston through the old times when there were just a few thousand and you mailed in entry forms--or maybe just a few hundred. And you stayed with it even as it grew more crowded, more difficult logistically. There's something about this race, and you are the group that understands that something, that mystery, that "presence"--all the history that was made in past years on that same course. So many run through those streets who may not have known who Johnny Kelley or Tarzan Brown were. Not you. This isn't just a race, but a labor of love--and sometimes unfinished business. The marathon has that way with us, luring us back, promising that next year will be different, and even if it turns out slower than last year, next year continues to come, and you continue to look forward to it, as well as reflecting back to the race's--and your own--history.
Interesting that it's on Passover--sharing two important themes: "next year in Jerusalem" that really is a constant commitment to that Jerusalem, that is "this year in Jerusalem"; and the sense of a journey whose outcome sometimes feels uncertain, yet you commit to it, because the journey itself matters as much as the promised land it leads you to.
To those who added to their streaks today, congratulations. To those who, for any reason, were not able to do so, you remain part of this great tradition. The journey may have wounded you for now, but it remains in you, in your blood and bones and muscles and memory and hope. It will not leave you or let you easily walk away from it (actually true whether or not you finished this year).
When I ran it the one time, I remember that my foot began chafing and a blister was forming. I was beginning to worry I would have to drop out. It was the 100th running and I'd worked so hard to qualify, so I really couldn't imagine stopping. I was ready to walk the course if need be to finish. But I prayed to one of the "saints" of the course, one of its guardian spirits, George Sheehan (he dated my mother many years ago before she met my father). I asked him to do whatever he could to help me. Then, about a hundred or so yards later, I happened upon a man passing out two-pill packets of Tylenol. As I'm allergic to NSAIDs, I would not have been able to take aspirin or ibuprofen had he been giving that out. But Tylenol I could take--and once I took it, I could run. While mildly disappointed in my time (4:22 chip, 4:39 gun), I now wonder how I managed to run that fast. But what I knew then and know now is that the history of that race, its past greats lifted me up and took me to the finish. Besides thinking of George Sheehan, I thought of Katherine Switzer and other women pioneers who had sacrificed so much to be able to run Boston. I needed to live up to that tradition.
I may never get another chance to run this special race--all the more, I salute those of you who have kept it on your calendar and kept at it all these years. You "get" the grandeur of this race as few people do. You live its grandeur. Regardless of finish time or even whether you were able to finish this year, you carry with you Boston's past, present, and future--its history, its triumphs, its disappointments, and its hopes. Younger runners, newcomers, have much to learn from you.
All best,
Diane
posted by DPMcManus @ 5:47 AM
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