Boston 2022 Wrap up

Even though I wasn’t at the Boston marathon this year as a participant I was very much immersed in it.

My social stream was full of Pictures of smiling people taking pictures.

Pictures of themselves in their Boston gear.

Mugging for photo ops at the finish line.

Capturing famous and near famous alike in smiling selfies.

Boston was everywhere.

The weather was perfect.  We tucked a couple of cool, crisp, clear spring days in between rainy windstorms for the participants.  This how it works in New England.  You’re just as likely to get a fast moving storm as you are to get the nice spring day.

The weather Monday was a perfect hit.  High odds against that.

The nice weather added to the generally celebratory atmosphere.

It was good weather, not only for racing but also for the throngs celebrating.   Sunny and cool with just a little bit of wind.

I’m sure some of the locals thought it was too warm or were smitten by too much sun.  Those runners from warmer places were probably thrilled.  Cold enough to work hard without overheating.

I’m sure I would have found something to complain about, but it doesn’t get much better.

The vibe was perfect like the weather.  People were genuinely happy and celebrating.  It felt a lot like 2014 when we took back the streets.  With that same joy our global running community took back Patriots Day from the pandemic.

Boston was a happy place.

I didn’t go into the race on race-day.

I sat in my home office and tracked people online.

The phots continued to stream across my social apps all morning and into the afternoon.

The obligatory photos of people laying out their kit on hotel room beds the night before.  Nervous runners crowded into school buses making the trip out from Boston to Hopkinton.  Smiling faces in the green athletic fields of the athletes’ village.  Even some pictures from within the corrals.

It was interesting to try to parse so many different narratives.

There were narratives of people racing.  There were narratives of people celebrating.  There were powerful narratives of people running Boston after years of trials and setbacks it took them to get there.

Tracking the race from my office I was surprised at how quickly the elite race went.  It seemed the blink of an eye compared to the epic struggles I remember from when I was on the course.

According to the B.A.A.

• 25,314 athletes crossed the start line in Hopkinton
• 24,918 athletes crossed the finish line on Boylston Street (as of 5:35 p.m. ET), a 98.4% finish rate

That means we lost 396 people somewhere.  I saw some of these stories in my feed after the race.

People who knew they were having a bad day and decided to step off the course before they did any damage to themselves.  I’ve been there, but I always finished, just because it was easier to finish than to try to find a ride back to town.

The Kenyans swept both the men’s race and the Women’s race – quiting now from the official BAA press release.

Evans Chebet (KEN) won his first Boston Marathon title in 2:06:51, the eighth-fastest time in Boston Marathon history

Chebet avenged a DNF from the 2018 Boston Marathon, his lone other attempt at the Hopkinton-to-Boston course.  (Note: I finished that race!)

Chebet has completed three other Abbott World Marathon Majors- the TCS London Marathon in 2021, the Tokyo Marathon in 2017, and the BMW Berlin Marathon in 2016.

He’s the real deal.

Chebet was followed across the line by Lawrence Cherono (KEN) in 2:07:21 and Benson Kipruto (KEN) in 2:07:27.

These guys are machines.

For the women…

Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) became the first athlete in history to have won the Boston, New York City, and Olympic Marathon titles with a final time of 2:21:01.

Jepchirchir is the fifth Olympic Marathon champion to win Boston. This was her Boston Marathon debut.

Today’s race was the sixth-closest finish in women’s race history, as Jepchirchir defeated Ababel Yeshaneh (ETH) by four seconds (2:21:05) followed by Mary Ngugi (KEN) in 2:21:32.

It was a great dual at the finish.  The two leaders traded places several times in the final mile.  Peres surged and sprinted in to take it on Boylston Street.

I can’t imagine the athleticism necessary to sprint on Boylston.  If my memory serves me I was usually more concerned with staying conscious for the last quarter mile on Boylston.

She, again, is the real deal.

There were some D-list celebrities this year – none of whom I would recognize if I tripped over them in the street.

NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth finished in a time of 3:01:40.

Soccer player Ethan Zohn finished in a time of 5:02:44.

Previous The Bachelor lead Matt James finished in a time of 3:49:38.

Zac Clark, previous contestant on The Bachelorette finished in a time of 3:43:46.

Chris Nikic, the Dick & Rick Hoyt award-winner, ESPY honoree, and first athlete with Down Syndrome to complete an Ironman, finished in a time of 5:38:51.

Para athlete & advocate Adrianne Haslet finished in a time of 5:18:41.

The nurse in scrubs. 2:48

…

Some of the people I follow on Instagram were there.  The sort-of internet famous types, like I used to be.

I saw Angie Spencer from the Marathon Training Academy had a good race.  It was a strange form of Voyeurism as I watched men and women who I follow on social media run their races.

Women who had battled through cancers and divorces.  Men who had beaten diseases.

Strikingly this seemed to be the year where many people’s multi-year quest to run Boston culminated.  All the stories of people who had missed out on previous years by seconds and had to dig deep and persevere.

It’s all very inspirational.

But, here I was watching from afar.  Aer there people who used to watch me the same way?

I know I was on some people’s minds.  I got messages from people asking me what my number was this year so they could track me.  I had family members tell me they missed having me to track on race day.  I had people aske me how I did!

So – congratulations to everyone who did the work, who toed the line and who ran their race.  Whether you were humbled or got your PR in the nice weather – congratulations to you.

Boston was a beautiful, spring dream this year and I’m glad to have been able to celebrate it with everyone.