2008 Woodie Awards
2008 Boston Marathon from a runner's perspective
Tim Kowols
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Sports
Nearly 22,000 people finished the 112th Boston Marathon on Patriots Day 2008. None of them saw Robert K. Cheruiyot make the final turn onto Boylston and cross the finish line at a time of 2:07.46.
They didn't need to.
Many of the runners had to qualify for the Boston Marathon by running a specific time. Just running the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston is enough for them. I would know. I was one of those 21,963 runners to make it over the rolling hills of eastern Massachusetts.
Pre-race
Remember waking up early during the holidays seeing what you got from Santa Claus? You knew you had something big under the tree, but you had to wait for your parents to come down. Sadly, that's the one day they had too much eggnog the night before and slept in later than usual. That's Hopkinton.
A caravan of buses took us from Boston Common to the grounds of Hopkinton High School, home of the mighty Hillers. I don't know what a hiller is, but it was on their baseball fields where thousands of runners waited … and waited … and waited. My iPod, a textbook, a Thomas the Tank Engine and a full bladder were the only things that helped pass the two hours of waiting before our time would come.
The race
After seven months of waiting and training and two hours waiting in a runner's Woodstock, the gun was shot and a field of 25,283 runners headed down the rolling hills of Hopkinton. The elite shot forward, but most shuffled their feet because of the thousands in front of them.
Instead of being boring and insightful by going mile-by-mile, let me put different parts of the race into perspective for your reading pleasure:
For all of you who love gossip and are sick of reading this column already, I'll save you some time. Lance Armstrong finished in 2:50:58 and no, I didn't see him.
On the way to Boston, runners go through seven towns: Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton and Brookline. People were packed on both sides of the roads cheering on thousands of runners, most of which they didn't even know.
They didn't need to.
Many of the runners had to qualify for the Boston Marathon by running a specific time. Just running the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston is enough for them. I would know. I was one of those 21,963 runners to make it over the rolling hills of eastern Massachusetts.
Pre-race
Remember waking up early during the holidays seeing what you got from Santa Claus? You knew you had something big under the tree, but you had to wait for your parents to come down. Sadly, that's the one day they had too much eggnog the night before and slept in later than usual. That's Hopkinton.
A caravan of buses took us from Boston Common to the grounds of Hopkinton High School, home of the mighty Hillers. I don't know what a hiller is, but it was on their baseball fields where thousands of runners waited … and waited … and waited. My iPod, a textbook, a Thomas the Tank Engine and a full bladder were the only things that helped pass the two hours of waiting before our time would come.
The race
After seven months of waiting and training and two hours waiting in a runner's Woodstock, the gun was shot and a field of 25,283 runners headed down the rolling hills of Hopkinton. The elite shot forward, but most shuffled their feet because of the thousands in front of them.
Instead of being boring and insightful by going mile-by-mile, let me put different parts of the race into perspective for your reading pleasure:
For all of you who love gossip and are sick of reading this column already, I'll save you some time. Lance Armstrong finished in 2:50:58 and no, I didn't see him.
On the way to Boston, runners go through seven towns: Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton and Brookline. People were packed on both sides of the roads cheering on thousands of runners, most of which they didn't even know.
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