The Long Road to Boston
It is a long road full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and unforeseen
challenges. Then the starting gun is fired and the marathon spills out of Hopkinton on Patriot’s Day. It’s always been true that the path to the marathon generates the greatest obstacle, and it isn’t just the eight-to-twelve weeks of marathon specific training which constitutes that long, arduous journey.
2008 was an epochal year in distance running. In America a changing of the guard was underway, led by California’s Ryan Hall. The previous year had seen his breakthrough, building off a series of record performances, including a majestic win at the Olympic Marathon Trials in November of 2007 in New York City. He followed with a 2:06:17 fifth place finish in London in the spring, making him the fastest native-born American marathoner of all time, and a medal threat in Beijing.
Fellow Mammoth Lakes Track Club teammate Meb Keflezighi found himself on an opposite trajectory. He and Deena Kastor had turned America’s running fortunes around with their Olympic medal performances in Athens 2004, but by 2007 Meb’s fortunes had begun to sour. Though he had podium finishes in New York City in `04 (2nd) and 2005 (3rd), and added another third place in Boston 2006, he was never able to notch the big win. Then a series of frustrating injuries, ailments, and mishaps began derailing his every step. Read more…


