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

outsiderunner wrote:

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.

I'm genuinely moved by people's concerns for those poor, delicate elites. Heaven forbid something throw off their perfectly calibrated plan so they don't win thousands and thousands of dollars!

Seriously, though, I thought having strategy and being smart about pace was one of the aspects of competition. If these guys fall to pieces because one guy decides to push the pace for a mile, then that's on them.

pop_pop! wrote:

Still, I am okay with an amateur going out front. He didn't impact the race at all,

Even if he did, that's ok. Everyone in wave 1 is allowed to win the race (gun time, mind you). So it's up to the Africans if they take him seriously or not.

You're missing the point. Of course the real elites wouldn't change their strategy seeing a guy like this get in the lead. But it sure as heck must've been annoying.

He could've snuck up into the lead, got his 10 seconds of fame (have his wife/kids take a screenshot of his stunt on TV to frame) and then backed off.

But no! He had to brag about it beforehand on Facebook , and try to lead as long as he could (for minutes on end rather than a few seconds). Pure show and attention.

It's a very selfish and disrespectful thing to do and he easily could've clipped a real elite or caused a fall with such antics. It happens every year now at Boston because it's very easy to do when the first 5km is very downhill.

I really can't believe this is an issue. The person qualified for the race and they ran the race that they wanted to. I didn't watch the race so I apologize if he physically impacted any of the other runners in a way that was his fault. But aside from intentionally impeding someone he can run whatever race he wants to. It's not like he jumped in at mile 25 and broke the tape or ran through the water station and tipped over the table.

I'm sure we've all run in races where someone went out faster than they should have. It's on you to assess the situation and figure it out. I've won plenty of meaningless races. Never once was I upset that an inferior runner that I ended up beating started out faster than I did. In fact, it only takes the pressure off if someone else is carrying that burden. Stealing their attention? Please. No one with a legitimate shot at winning should be worried about camera time during mile 1.

This is neither a heartwarming story nor narrowly avoided disaster. It's a non-issue. It's a matter of someone with a alternative race strategy (i.e., not focused on achieving their best time/finish) performing within the rules of the game. I don't agree with it, and I would never do it, but that doesn't make it wrong.

treadmill wrote:

You're missing the point. Of course the real elites wouldn't change their strategy seeing a guy like this get in the lead. But it sure as heck must've been annoying.

He could've snuck up into the lead, got his 10 seconds of fame (have his wife/kids take a screenshot of his stunt on TV to frame) and then backed off.

But no! He had to brag about it beforehand on Facebook , and try to lead as long as he could (for minutes on end rather than a few seconds). Pure show and attention.

It's a very selfish and disrespectful thing to do and he easily could've clipped a real elite or caused a fall with such antics. It happens every year now at Boston because it's very easy to do when the first 5km is very downhill.

A bystander could trip a runner. Maybe we should ban audiences too!

I totally agree with Precious Roy.I guess what we see on here is a large number of posters that can actually relate to what this guy did (or would consider trying to do it themselves).What a shame.This guy was totally in it just for his own selfish reasons (which he totally got from people like you and Hobby Joggers World) and you don't see anything wrong with this kind of self promotional stunt?He did not deserve any camera time period. The fact that he did this for minutes on end (instead of seconds) and bragged about it on Facebook ahead of time shows what kind of person we're dealing with.And there are tons of runners that could pull this off. A 4:38 mile on a huge downhill is not that hard folks!

It is funny that neither of his kids will remember this

I think what he did was heroic. He gave it everything he had, for 10 minutes. Gd bless him, I hope we see more of this in the future.

+1

Heartwarming, great.

This guy has great balls.

Well said!

BAZINGA wrote:

u r an idiot wrote:

Ryan Hall is the greatest US marathoner ever.

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

He could be MAYBE argued in the top 5, but no way is he the best.

Oh the irony...

Is there a rule against this? Should there be? I don't see why he can't run however he likes.

Its a race, he was deemed by the people who organize the Boston Marathon to be good enough to be in the first corral. By them putting him in that position he has the right to execute any racing strategy that he chooses. He didn't hurt anyone, he didn't go to the front an sabotage anyone's race. And furthermore the world record pace for the marathon is 4:41 pace per mile. People are losing their minds about how he is ruining the race plan of elite athletes, but all he did was run 3 seconds faster than marathon world record pace on a down hill mile at the beginning of a race. I bet the Elites who run hundreds of miles per week and train consistently at fast paces could not handle a slightly faster than world record pace for 1/26th of the race. And to really beat this horse into the ground they did not have to go with him if they did not want to.

I think the bigger issue here is people getting all worked up about nothing. If the elites are bothered by it then they will say something to the people who manage and facilitate the race. Then if those people think that its a legitimate issue they will make the necessary changes. Aside from that it is all fair game. He was entitled to run the race however he chooses, so long as it was clean and fair which it was.

Does not sound too much like a talentless guy too me based off his 10K pr on the road he should have been capable of running a 2:19:10 Marathon.

Here is his profile:

http://www.all-athletics.com/node/102106

Most of you sound like a bunch of pansy-ass runners that need something to complain about. Who cares what he did? What percentage of you could even qualify to be in the first corral anyway? less than 1.

I think 1) this guy was well within his rights to do this as a qualifying race participant and 2) he was probably doing it out of ego--although, to be fair, aren't most athletes driven to a large extent by ego?

So yeah, his "strategy" was probably driven by ego than a rational racing plan, but this incident has made me curious: are there any successful examples of a runner going out at a blistering but at least plausibly sustainable pace and then dropping back from the lead pack so that some of the competitors will stick with a similar pace and eventually have the wheels come off? I doubt that would be likely to work in a shorter race, but I wonder if someone in a marathon could do this in order to improve his/her placing, if not actually win.

Again, I'm not saying that I think that's what this guy was doing--I'd be surprised if it were--but I wonder if the strategy could work in the right circumstances. I'd be interested to hear what others think.

wtfunny wrote:

“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.

He ran 3:04:57 for 26.2 miles but ran one of those miles in 25 m XX s. Not impossible I guess, but higly unlikely. I'm calling horse **** on this. Until this guy's splits are uploaded and linked, I'm assuming someone's got their facts wrong and that someone is you.

Did somebody say that they felt this guy might have made the elites go out too fast? I don't think that's an issue. I'm sure the elites weren't concerned about him in the least. This guy was a qualified runner, so he probably knew how to not endanger the elites surrounding him (I hope). The problem (and huge concern) is that some hot dog bozo is going to go out with the elites and trip up an elite runner who's trained really hard for this one race and make him/her lose their podium chance. That would truly suck.

As far as doing it for the kids, that's total BS. Ego all the way. And it's fine to say that it's totally lame. "You ain't no hero, you're a pretender, dude" And everybody can see it.

If this catches on, somebody's going to screw up some elite's chances for a huge victory. It's an all-around lame thing to do.

My best marathon would qualify me for the first corral. I have run 2:23 for a marathon which actually qualifies for the elite field but no longer run competitively. However if you read my post in which you replied to I was not putting this runner down but simply sticking up for him to let others know that he has talent and his performances from the past indicate this. Read before you insult next time.