Dad leads first mile of Boston Marathon only to finish in 3:04:57. Heartwarming story or narrowly avoided disaster?

The average amateur would use it all up in the first 400m at that pace.

"He wanted to give his five-year-old and two-year-old daughters an unforgettable memory."

I wonder how "unforgettable" that memory will be. Zero chance the two-year-old remembers anything about it. Maybe the five-year-old will but I remember barely anything from when I was five.

asdfasdf wrote:

"He wanted to give his five-year-old and two-year-old daughters an unforgettable memory."

I wonder how "unforgettable" that memory will be. Zero chance the two-year-old remembers anything about it. Maybe the five-year-old will but I remember barely anything from when I was five.

His own idea of 'memories' much more important than theirs and then 'gifting' it to them.

If he's a kind loving father then the greatest memory will be him being around to help them grow up, not running races they don't know or care about.

Every parent needs things they are passionate about separate from the family. That's not what this was.

“I knew I was fast enough that I wouldn’t blow up.”

he ran one of his later miles in 25:+ .. sure sounds like he blew up to me.

Still, I am okay with an amateur going out front. He didn't impact the race at all, so let's see it again.

Maybe next time the glory seeker can wear a rainbow wig or something.

The guy is a 29 minute 10k runner, and a 2:30 marathoner.

How many guys could run a 4:20 mile and qualify for corral 1? Seriously? This isn't going to be a problem because there are very few people who could physically pull this off and even fewer that would.

Besides, I've seen Ryan Hall pull this in a number of marathons. IE sprint to the lead at a pace that there is no way he can hold.

MD Phan wrote:

Besides, I've seen Ryan Hall pull this in a number of marathons. IE sprint to the lead at a pace that there is no way he can hold.

That's a clown comment. Ryan Hall is the greatest US marathoner ever. don't even compare this no-name imbecile from the recent Boston race to Mr Hall. Seriously, even if you are trolling, that's an embarrassing comment. For you to make and for any of us to read. We are all ashamed of you now.

u r an idiot wrote:

MD Phan wrote:

Besides, I've seen Ryan Hall pull this in a number of marathons. IE sprint to the lead at a pace that there is no way he can hold.

That's a clown comment. Ryan Hall is the greatest US marathoner ever. don't even compare this no-name imbecile from the recent Boston race to Mr Hall. Seriously, even if you are trolling, that's an embarrassing comment. For you to make and for any of us to read. We are all ashamed of you now.

Is it? Hall ran 28 10k, this guy ran 29. Did you watch LA?

Isn't there like a 200+ post on this already?

It is like filling a telephone booth with the most people, a superficial accomplishment.

It seems like this happens fairly often, not sure why it seems to be getting more attention this year.

The problem I think is that this story has really taken on a positive spin (mainly from the Runners World article about him) which might make it less likely that the BAA will take measures to prevent it in the future. I'm sure Dave McGillivray hates this stuff. It's a genuine safety concern, despite what most people (general public) are saying. These elite guys are highly-tuned, fickle runners. One misstep can ruin their race. Why let some idiot do that?

Also, I'd have a lot more respect for the guy if he just said he wanted to get on TV. Doing this "for your kids" is a joke.

Runner's World Commenter:

Who cares about the elites? Marathons exist because of the common people, not the elites. The elites should feel priveleged that the money from the common people support their running. And people who can run 4:30 pace for 1.5 miles and still finish a marathon are hardly goofballs, but even if a dozen like minded people did this and formed a road block, so what? It's a small amount of time in a very long race. Stop hating.

By the way, the elite runners don't mind. Meb actually likes it. Why do recreational runners feel like they need to stick up for "the leaders" and act outraged by this behavior?

I love how 4:38 pace becomes 4:30 pace (see quote above) when the Runner's World crowd gets hold of it.

The facebook posts this guy did said nothing about the kids. It sounds like he is making a PR push to try to cover for the fact that this was a "look at me" stunt for his triathlon buddies. Also, if this guy really wanted his kids to be proud and remember his racing, he should train hard, run a smaller race like Bay State or Vermont City and legitimately be in the lead pack. When his kids get older, they will come to understand that this was just a cheap stunt.

There is no harm in this because the pace is so fast that there are only a tiny handful of runners that could pull this off. However, it is tremendously disrespectful to the elite runners to do this. If you want to hang with the elites as long as you can, do it at the back of the pack and at a safe distance. For the elites, this is their full time job. The Boston marathon is one of only two marathons in the US that gets half decent media coverage. The elites deserve every minute of it and should not have to compete with some no-name sub elite for the spotlight at the beginning of a race.

u r an idiot wrote:

Ryan Hall is the greatest US marathoner ever.

Wait, people still think this? LOL funny joke bro.

I say: no harm, no foul. I would like to think that running is perhaps our most open and democratic sport...which is probably the main reason why I enjoy it so much.

You, sir, are spot on!!!

This happens at Boston every year. People (and RunnersWorld) are impressed by a "4:30 first mile", but everybody who runs Boston knows that mile is a screaming downhill. Heck the first 5km is a big downhill. 14:30 is no problem for a lot of people. If this guy was still leading at that point where the first elite water stop is, then any extra pair of legs heading into that is cumbersome. When you have a rather large and inconsistent runner sprinting around and ahead of the lead pack and then all of a sudden slowing down when he dies, there is a chance for someone getting clipped or tripped and falling.

Guys like this wouldn't be able to pull this kind of stunt at a non-downhill start race like Chicago, where you'd have to run a legit 4:40-4:30 from the gun and try to hold it.

I really don't see the harm in this unless he affected their performance ... and it seems like the only way to affect other elites' performances is to be an elite yourself, which then becomes a thing that we already have a name for: a race.

That said, the elite pack pace is so brutal that I have to hand it to the guy for following through. I feel like the wheels can fall off very quickly for a midpacker trying to run 12 mph without coming close to it in training.