I don't think the race was fixed. I'm just wondering why none of the favorites were factors. It's almost like they all decided not to train for Boston this year.
I don't think the race was fixed. I'm just wondering why none of the favorites were factors. It's almost like they all decided not to train for Boston this year.
Just a couple of thoughts:
1. Boston, due to its downhills in the first half of the race, does not favor a front-runner.
2. Boston does not produce traditionally fast times like London or Berlin, likely has a consequence of the hills pounding your quads for the 1st half.
3. Meb's PR before today was around 2:09+
4. When Meb broke away, he was going under his PR pace.
5. Meb is 38 yrs old.
It is quite likely that many in the pack thought Meb was going to blow up. Josephat Boit went with Meb and did blow up in comparison. It is quite possible when the 2nd chase pack was behind Boit and only saw Boit, they could have figured that Meb was either done or going to be done.
I imagine that many of the tin-foilers probably never even ran Boston in the first place and wouldn't know how to compare it to other courses.
Granted, if you are in with the tin-foil hat crowd in the first place, it's not like you are not going to allow any reasonable logical thought govern the day anyways.
Mani wrote:
I don't think the race was fixed. I'm just wondering why none of the favorites were factors. It's almost like they all decided not to train for Boston this year.
It's not surprising when one of the favorites isn't a factor. Usually in any given marathon 2/3 of the field will not be a factor. Happens every year at London.
Recognizer of Brilliance? wrote:
Dosser wrote:Didn't you hear? The race was fixed! They payed those guys to blow it, then told Meb, "Alright Meb, all you have to do is run a lifetime best on a difficult course at age 38, and we'll cover the rest".
Not too bright, are you? Just have to pay them to let the top American go if he is running below 2:10 or so. No guarantee that an American will run that low but the odds are pretty good with the Americans lined up today.
So, go ahead and answer THE question: When is the last time that an elite African field did NOT stay with the lead...in the first ten miles...of a major marathon...at a pedestrian pace.
Oh, and this happens to be the anniversary of the Boston bombings. What a coincidence.
If this was indeed 'fixing' it would be like the most subtle fixing ever, with the only stipulate being that they let Meb go early on in the race.
The last 10 miles were a real race. Chebet did not have it in him to get to Meb, and those saying he jogged it in are kidding themselves. A guy full of run jogging it in looks much different than a guy who has nothing left to give, and Chebet was absolutely spent. Perhaps that was because he had so much reeling in to do.
As for letting people go, it's happened plenty of times. Hartmann was allowed an early lead two years ago I believe. The top africans usually don't give chase when some dude that they don't view as a threat takes off. They won't let a Kipsang or Mutai go, but a Hartmann or Meb, or other runner not seen as a true contender? That's somewhat routine.
Someone made a good point that may have played in here, and that is at one point there was a good gap to Boit, and another gap to Meb, and it's quite possible the chase pack thought they were together and were okay with a 30s gap when the reality was 60s+
Yeah, sittin in yer friggin basement! At least I was there for a great moment in Boston Marathon history.
Stoned Ages wrote:
CSU-1959 wrote:Standing 1K from the finish and my jaw dropped when I saw Meb go by. I haven't seen finish video yet but he was not being challenged at 41.2.
Dude, this is the day of Web 2.0 We are way ahead of you.
Thanks Collin. Makes sense. The field looked strong based on PRs, but PRs can be deceiving. I think Kimetto's the most talented marathoner in the game right now, but the motivation might not be there now that he's rich.
Based on what Meb said before the race, his career is now complete and he should retire.
BLACK!
Kara tweeted this an hour ago:
So excited for meb, but just a quick correction. The last American winner was not Greg Meyer in 1983, it was Lisa Rainsberger in 1985.
I really hope she was tweeting from a kitchen.
Wow, chill Kara. Meb won the men's race.
Recognizer of Brilliance? wrote:
Dosser wrote:Didn't you hear? The race was fixed! They payed those guys to blow it, then told Meb, "Alright Meb, all you have to do is run a lifetime best on a difficult course at age 38, and we'll cover the rest".
Not too bright, are you? Just have to pay them to let the top American go if he is running below 2:10 or so. No guarantee that an American will run that low but the odds are pretty good with the Americans lined up today.
So, go ahead and answer THE question: When is the last time that an elite African field did NOT stay with the lead...in the first ten miles...of a major marathon...at a pedestrian pace.
Oh, and this happens to be the anniversary of the Boston bombings. What a coincidence.
If you look at most majoe marathons, numerous top marathoners (from Africa, Europe, or America) run poorly. The marathon is a very inconsistent race to run.
Those 2:04 and 2:05 guys didn't run it at Boston. Boston is a tough and slow course. 2:08 is a very good time for Boston.
When you look at it, Shalene ran a fantastic race. Gutsy as hell. She set a 3 minute personal best on the Boston course. Although Shalene was hyped a lot, she really wasn't in the same league as the others in the lead pack. Her best was 5 to 6 minutes slower than most of their's. She still led up to about 30k and ran a gutsy last 10k to finish in the best Boston Marathon time by an American in history.
Nobody can fault that kind of effort.
Women's rights wrote:
Kara tweeted this an hour ago:
So excited for meb, but just a quick correction. The last American winner was not Greg Meyer in 1983, it was Lisa Rainsberger in 1985.
I really hope she was tweeting from a kitchen.
Kara again attempting to steal the limelight. Disgusting.
agreed -- great race by Shalane
Track Historian wrote:
When you look at it, Shalene ran a fantastic race. Gutsy as hell. She set a 3 minute personal best on the Boston course. Although Shalene was hyped a lot, she really wasn't in the same league as the others in the lead pack. Her best was 5 to 6 minutes slower than most of their's. She still led up to about 30k and ran a gutsy last 10k to finish in the best Boston Marathon time by an American in history.
Nobody can fault that kind of effort.
Well she ran with balls and just missed running a 2:21. I do think she went out too agressive but look at jeptoo there was no way Flanagan was going to out kick her.
Props to Desi as well. She ran her own race and popped a 2:23 after a long injury. I really think she has a 2:20 in her.
Meb is a m-fing baller no doubt.
Thanks for the commentary, guys. I wasn't watching the live stream, but reading this was a great substitute (although I'm going to have to dig up the last five minutes of the men's race, because that looks absolutely epic).
USA Today sent out a Breaking News email with a 2:01"49 winning time.
#YOBRO wrote: Meb is a m-fing baller no doubt.
I agree, whole-heartedly. I like everything about the guy, from his personal story to his racing ability.
That said, I am absolutely stunned that none of the usual LRC trolls have accused 38-year-old Meb of pulling a Regina Jacobs. Could it be that even the trolls have a soft side for this fairytale Boston Marathon result?
Meb had the names of the three bombing victims and the MIT cop killed in the shoot out written on the corners of his race bib.
6263 Cannon, Keri A. 31 F South Jordan UT USA
5k 0:24:12
10k 0:48:30
15k -
20k -
Half -
25k -
30k -
35k -
40k 2:06:15
Pace 5:16
Proj. Time 2:18:01
Offl. Time 2:18:01
Overall 21
Gender 1
Division 1
What happened with Jason Hartman? After being pretty consistent he has dropped a couple of 'bad' marathons. Anyone know if he has been injured or just trying something new in training perhaps?
I was hoping to see him in top 10 at least.