More than 36,000 runners came to the 118th Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day to celebrate and renew the classic race that was assaulted by a terrorist bombing that killed 3 and injured 260 persons last year. At the end of the day, the runners, the city of Boston, the nation and the world breathed a collective sigh of relief that 3,500 police, bomb-sniffing dogs, stricter security measures and a higher degree of awareness worked. But most of all, the spirit that came to be known as Boston Strong recovered and prevailed on a day peaceful and free for 1 million spectators to celebrate athletic excellence and personal courage on 26.2 miles of winding roads from Hopkinton to Back Bay.
In tune with the electric excitement of the day, Meb Keflezighi broke a 31-year drought for U.S. men by winning the race in a personal best time of 2:08:37, 11 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Wilson Chebet. Running a few days before his 39th birthday. Keflezighi wrote the names of the bombing victims on his race bib. “At the end, I just kept thinking ‘Boston Strong. Boston Strong,'” he told the Associated Press. “I’m blessed to be an American, and God bless America, and God bless Boston for this special day.” No American man has won this race since Greg Meyer in 1983. Meyer embraced Keflezighi at the finish line.
Keflezighi has grown accustomed to ending U.S. running losing streaks. In 2004, he won silver in the Olympic marathon, the first American man to win an Olympic marathon medal since Frank Shorter won gold at Munich in 1972 and silver at the 1976 Olympic marathon in Montreal. In 2009, Keflezighi ended a similar U.S. men’s drought by winning the New York City Marathon.
In the women’s contest, Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo broke away from the field at Mile 23 and won her third Boston Marathon in a race-record time of 2:18:57, 62 seconds ahead of runner-up Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia.
Several triathletes also made their mark at Boston. Among the notables, Lisa Bentley of Canada, 11-time Ironman winner, shone brightly. She finished 41st woman overall, 5th place masters woman and 1st in women’s 45-49 in a time of 2:47:47. Ironman veteran Kim Loeffler of Colchester, Vermont finished 129th woman and 12th in women’s 40-44 in a time of 2:59:43. Karen Smyers of nearby Lincoln, Massachusetts, the 1995 ITU World Champion and Ironman World Champion, finished 1,489th woman overall and 40th in women’s 50-54 in a time of 3:25:29. Fuel Belt founder Vinu Malik of Barrington, Rhode Island, finished 1,530th in the men’s 45-49 division in a time of 3:37:06.
To a rousing cheer, Dick and Ricky Hoyt completed what they said was their 32nd and final Boston Marathon. This remarkable father-son team finished 31,801st overall, 17,520th among all males and 159th in their division in a time of 7 hours 37 minutes and 33 seconds
The Hoyts became famous for the courage they showed as father Dick Hoyt pushed his son Ricky, who suffers from cerebral palsy, in a wheelchair through a tremendous number of running races and triathlons around the world.
This 2014 race was a long way from their first unofficial crack at Boston in 1981, which they finished in 3 hours and 16 minutes. Soon, they were regularly breaking 3 hours with official registration in Boston, and they went on to finish the Ironman World Championship in Kona several times.
This time around, Dick was 73 years old and Ricky was 52 and the old speed was gone. But in perfect sync with this Boston Strong occasion, the courage was unbeaten, undaunted, undiminished.
