BOSTON MARATHON My birthplace, Worcester, Massachusetts, is near the start of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, MA. It was only natural that after I ran my first marathon in 1981 “qualifying for Boston” became an immediate goal. Within two years I met this goal, and ran my first Boston at the age of 53. I looked forward to many more Boston marathons and hoped that I’d be there in the next “decades” of my life. In the following years I added nine more races on Patriots Day in Massachusetts, and added my “60’s” and “70’s.” Running Boston in my “80’s” came sooner than I had expected. Actually, it was Wally Kastner, race director of the Big Sur Marathon in California, who made it happen. Wally attended my birthday party on October 3, 2009, at the Marriott Hotel in Portland, Oregon. It was there that he offered me a guaranteed entry to his inaugural “Boston2Big Sur Challenge” with marathons 6 days and 3,000 miles apart on April 19, 2010, and April 25, 2010. I ran the Portland Marathon the next day on my 80th birthday, October 4, 2009, with high hopes of getting to Boston in another “decade.” Lenore made plans for this 10-day adventure, but she almost missed out on the trip. She recovered from the pneumonia that she got after our Yakima River Canyon Marathon just in time to “cautiously” go with me. We flew from Seattle to Boston on April 16th, picked up our rental car and drove to the Red Roof Inn in Framingham, our “home” for the next five days. Without prior planning, fellow Yakima Hard Core Runners Club member Rick Becker from Selah and his daughter Sarah had a unit near ours at the Red Roof Inn. Rick has set many U.S.A.T.F. age group records in the past. Now at age 55 he hoped to place at the Boston Marathon in his new age group. The night before the marathon Rick and Sarah joined us and our friend, “Maine Maniac” Dave Goodrich from Holton, Maine, to discuss plans for the BIG DAY. After a short night, I told Lenore goodbye before 5:00 a.m., drove to Boston, put the car in a garage near the finish line and took a bus from the Boston Common to Hopkinton. It was there that I met up with Dave to await our 10:30 a.m. second wave start. With clear skies and temperatures in the low 50’s, it was a good day for a race. At Mile 10 Dave made his first call to Lenore to inform her of our good progress. We ran most of the first half in about three hours and then changed to a brisk walk. The sky became overcast, the temperature reached 60 degrees, and there was a tailwind…..all good things. However, near Mile 17 a crew was starting to dismantle the race course to be able to open the road to traffic. A motorcycle policeman directed all runners and walkers to continue on a crowded sidewalk. As I tried to make it through the congestion, I tripped on the base of a barricade and fell hard to the ground, severely cutting the palm of my left hand. All I could think of doing was to get up, wrap a handkerchief around my injured hand, avoid immediate medical assistance (I didn’t want a “dnf”), and walk the last nine miles to the finish line to get the medal I needed to continue on with the Big Sur Challenge. Dave and I crossed the finish line with a time of 7:22:50. I was whisked away to the medical tent and then sent by ambulance to a hospital for X-rays. There were no broken bones, and eight stitches were used to close the wound. It was 1:00 a.m. before we returned to Framingham to share our long day’s adventures with Lenore! Well, that’s how things were going in the back of the race. In the front of the field it was really exciting. Robert K. Cheruiyot, 21, a farmer from Kenya, came into Boston prominence in 2010. For the first nine miles there was a group of about 20 front runners. To spread out the pack last year’s winner, Deriba Merga, 29, of Ethiopia threw in two fast 4:40 surges in the middle miles. By the start of the Newton Hills, he and Robert Cheruiyot ran together through the hills and past Boston College until they had five miles left to get to the finish. In the last three miles on Beacon Street it was Robert’s turn to run a 4:40 and pull ahead. He ran alone from then on extending his lead and racing the clock for a new course record of 2:05:52. Tekeste Kebede, 28, of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia moved up to second place and finished with a 2:07:23 while Dariba Merga was third with a time of 2:08:39. In fourth and fifth places from Mammoth Lakes, California, were Americans Ryan Hall, 27, who ran a 2:08:41 for a new American record at Boston, and Mebrahtom Keflezighi, 34, with a 2:09:26. As an aside, in 1983 Greg Meyer was the last American to win the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:09:00. In that race Joan Benoit (Samuelson) set a women’s world record with a 2:22:43. At age 53, it was my first Boston running, and my time was 3:36:00. The women’s race was a close one, not settled until the final seconds. Teyba Erkesso, 27, of Arsi, Ethiopia, had an 80 second lead with seven miles to go to the finish. Tatyana Pushkareva, 24, of Perm, Russia, began to reel her in and was closing the gap steadily when the leader had stomach distress. With both of them running to finish at top kick speed, Teyba won the race with a 2:26:11 and Tetyana was just behind by three seconds to finish with a 2:26:14. In third place was Salina Kosgei, 33, of Eldoret, Kenya with a time of 2:28:35. Waynishet Girma, 24 of Ethiopia was fourth with a 2:28:36, and Bruna Genovese, 33, of Italy came in fifth with a 2:29:12. For the ninth time and with more wins than anyone else, Ernst Van Dyk, 37, of South Africa won the men’s wheelchair division in 1:26:53. It was not an easy win for him. In the latter miles with the end in sight, he moved up from fourth to second place, trailing Krige Schabert, an eight time winner. Ernst took the lead with 400 meters to go, and Krige was second with a 1:26:57. In third was Kota Hokinona of Japan with a 1:27:05. Wokako Tsuchida of Japan won the women’s wheelchair race, and Diane Roy of Canada came in second. Congratulations to our good friend Rick Becker who placed 2nd in the 55-59 age group with a time of 2:48:30……and congratulations to Robert Borglund, 81, of Ft. Myers, Florida who was the winner in my age division with a 4:37:20. Half of the “Challenge” has been met. In six days I’ll run my first Big Sur Marathon 3,000 miles from my home state. Thank you Wally Kastner! …………………………………..Written by Bob Dolphin
PARTIAL RESULTS…….BOSTON MARATHON, April 25, 2010
2:48:30 Rick Becker, 55, Selah, WA, 2nd 55-59M
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