By about 1:15, my favorite male elite (American Meb Keflezieghi) separated from the guy he was near and was completely solo through 1:30. By 1:45, he'd crested Heartbreak and I was starting to worry about my job because by then, my boss was in the office. I had the door to my office shut, but tears in my eyes and probably some little squeels, every time they announced how far back the chase pack was from him. Right around 1:57, he only had the lead by 20 seconds and 2d place was gaining -- 2d place who I hadn't predicted. OMG!!!! So intense! 2d and 3d were in sight, but in the end, Meb won it! By about 10 seconds!!!!
For the women, my number one pick was Rita Jeptoo (but of course an American would be great, so I was excited for Shalene before she got dropped from the pack of 8 in Newton). Right around 2 hours, she broke from the pack of 5 and she dominated.
So by 2 hours into the women's race, I'd called it. And by 1:20 in the men's same thing. If only I could channel some of my prediction abilities into harnessing some of that speed!
But even when Rita and Meb were finished, I've got a couple more hours of tracking my friends.
Going to be a fun day! Amazing elite races.
haha - good for you! I've been tracking a bunch of people with the app today, so amazing compared to hearing from friends at work the next day back in the 80s/90s ...
ReplyDeleteI was following the Internet streaming feed too. With 2 weeks until my first full marathon, watching the elite men and women is so inspirational. They are so graceful and focused.
ReplyDeleteIt was a tough year for me to not be there spectating especially living so close. The security was so tight and it would have been very difficult traveling there the morning of the marathon. Wow! What a race though. I felt so honored to be even a tiny part of the running community that day. It was so inspiring to watch the elites, but even more amazing were the other stories of all those running after the elites. It was a great day all around. I was disappointed for Shalane, but so happy for Meb and Rita Jeptoo!
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