Official 2018 Boston Marathon Live Discussion Thread

One thing I was thinking about and talked about on the radio show was - "What technological advantage will Team Salazar come up with for Rupp?" Love him or hate him, everyone has to admit Salazar leaves no stone untouched.

In hot weather, we know what they do -wear a cooling vest to get the core temp down before the race and then have your own chilled hat every 5k at the aid stations.

What will he come up with for cold and rainy weather? Will their be repeated wardrobe changes? What could it be? New gloves every aid-station? Dry hats ? New shirt? Handwarmers? Heated water bottle?

I know that Salazar knows what to do and I also believe there are several Africans who have never ever run a single step in low 40s weather with rain.

My other question is this. The theory is that in hot weather smaller runners benefit as they can dissipate heat more efficiently. In cold and rainy weather, are there any thoughts on who that would benefit in general? Like could it be the opposite - strong and big runners? I've never thought about it as if it's 40 and raining, it's the rare time I consider running indoors.

I've lived in Boston the past 20 years, and this is by far the worst conditions I've ever seen for the race. I don't envy these poor souls.

I'm going to talk about something that was written about the defending champ Kirui in another thread becuase unless you've been listening to our podcasts, you likely dont know some key info.

kick like ismael wrote:

Did I miss something in the past few months? All I know is:

1) He won Boston and Worlds last year, defeating his two most heralded competitors (Rupp and Tola) in those races

2) He was the consensus #1 marathoner (non-Kipchoge division) in 2017

3) No one has talked to him, but it seems he's training well.

Did I miss some 63-minute HM somewhere? Or an injury? Look, I can see why you could be really excited about Rupp. Or really excited about Tola etc. So I'm not saying he needs to be *your* favorite. But he's the favorite on paper, right? Why is no one talking about him that way?

As for Kirui, right after we published that we didn't get to speak to him at the press event, on the way out of the press, we did bump into agent Valentin Truow in the restaurant at the hotel and Truow said Kirui was fit but has changed things up.

Kirui no longer wrks Canova. Last year before Boston, he'd leave the part of Kenya where he's pretty much the only big elite and go see Canova for key workouts. Before Worlds, he did that a few times but less than before Bston.

This time he hasn't been going to Canova at all bu when you are training alone, it's hard to know where you stand and t he did want to see how he was doing fitness wise so he went to Patrick Sang's camp to do some workouts so he could get a gauge of whether he's in shape or not (Remember, these guys are often running on feel, not on time courses and at big time altitude). He ended up staying at Sang's camp for close to 3 weeks.

So I think Kirui - given his wins in 2017 - deserves to be the favorite on paper if they are both in form. The reason why Rupp may get the nod inn the prediction cntest is everyone 100% know he's in shape based off of that 59:47. With no prep races, you have to take people's word that Kirui isn't just 80% fit and showing up mainly for the appearance fee.

rojo wrote:

and then have your own chilled hat every 5k at the aid stationin

Was this ever confirmed?

Editor's note: Yes, Rupp repeatedly got new hats in Rio:

Samuel DeChamplain wrote:

rojo wrote:

and then have your own chilled hat every 5k at the aid stationin

Was this ever confirmed?

He definitely had a new hat at each station, whether or not it was chilled, I'm not sure. Hope the weather is Rupp-Certified, because I'm rooting for him.

So, how's the weather right now?

pkl wrote:

So, how's the weather right now?

According to Weather.com, 38F with rain and 24mph wind. Glad I'm at work :D

Rojo- who are your picks to win today?

Its nasty where im at, rain, heavy at times, with some thunder and a crazy wind that left me soaked almost immediately. Not sure if it will be as bad in Boston, looking at the radar a huge “yellow” band of the storm is making its way north, sorry for my lack of meterological vocabulary.

Here's a Wellesley webcam. The weather doesn't look too bad there at the moment.

https://www.wellesleyma.gov/974/Live-Web-Cam

Oh Please wrote:

pkl wrote:

So, how's the weather right now?

According to Weather.com, 38F with rain and 24mph wind. Glad I'm at work :D

I'd say the weather forecast for the start has improved slightly from when we wrote our article yesterday during the early evening. At that time, weather.com was saying Hopkinton (Race start) would at 9 am ET today have a 100% chance of rain and 17mph winds. Now the forecast for 9 am says 65% chance of rain at 9 am with 15 mph winds. How you go from 100% chance of rain to 65% chance seems to make no sense. I guess they don't understand what 100% means.

To me, the key issue other than rain is whether the weather will feature a direct headwind or a cross wind. The course mainly goes West to East and a few hours ago, it looked like a direct headwind.

If you type in the zip code of the race finish (02116), the wind actually is projected to be higher than it was last night. And it is looking like a near direct headwind.. My goodness, check out what weahter.com says for the next 36 hours at the race finish, "Windy with periods of rain. High 49F. Winds E at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph." 50 mph??

We'll take a video of the rain/wind before we go into the press area at the finish line.

If you missed the weather article, here it is:

This is the race of the day.

https://twitter.com/geoffreyburns/status/984419210003648512

Your weather article has the Copley Square information for the wrong times (9p Sunday to 1a Monday). It will be considerably warmer there 9a Monday to 1p Monday.

I've got boots on the ground, though an hour south right now. (give me a little credit) Windy, rainy, cold. Runners are going to have BRIGHT red chafed legs by halfway, hands will be freezing, hats will be soaked, feet will feel heavy. Elites will be okay, it's going to suck but they are only out there for 2-2.5 hours and generate the heat they need to stay healthy. The poor slobs at the back of the pack are going to be mighty uncomfortable but oh man, will they ever show that jacket off the next 22 years!

rojo wrote:

One thing I was thinking about and talked about on the radio show was - "What technological advantage will Team Salazar come up with for Rupp?" Love him or hate him, everyone has to admit Salazar leaves no stone untouched.

....

I'll bet they use some sort of embrocation for Rupp. It's the first thing I thought of when I heard about the weather.

Good news for Europeans not living in the U.K., Lithuania, and Sweden. For you, the race is being broadcast on the Olympic Channel which we believe that means you can watch it for free at https://www.olympicchannel.com/

Oh Please wrote:

rojo wrote:

One thing I was thinking about and talked about on the radio show was - "What technological advantage will Team Salazar come up with for Rupp?" Love him or hate him, everyone has to admit Salazar leaves no stone untouched.

....

I'll bet they use some sort of embrocation for Rupp. It's the first thing I thought of when I heard about the weather.

I’m certain they will use some kind of new tech on him or at least something common that they have. My first guess would be waterproof shoes and very thin racing kit that stays close to the body to prevent drag. I’m sure theirs more they can come up with.

rojo wrote:

I guess they don't understand what 100% means.

I guess you don't understand what forecast means.

Will this be Rupps breakthrough race