Top cop completes marathon for 1st time since 2013 bombings

Meb hugs both winners of the Boston Marathon.

And today at the 2017 Boston Marathon, he added a second-place finish to his résumé, running a new PR, 2:09:58, finishing 21 seconds behind the victor, Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya. Kirui and Kiplagat won a prize of $150,000 for the Elite race while Hug and Schar will take home $20,000 for winning the Pushrim. 2014 champion Buzunesh Deba was also about 2 minutes behind the leaders.

If he finishes, the 32-year-old Kenyan will be the first professional to complete all six major marathons plus the world championships and the Olympics. Linden, a two-time Olympian, finished second in Boston in 2011. Switzer was chased by a race official who tried to stop her competing. “At the time, it was a bad experience, but in the fullness of time, it was the best thing that ever happened to me”. She kept running and finished in 4 hours and 20 minutes. I said to my coach immediately after the incident: ‘I have to finish this race now because if I drop out of this race, nobody’s going to believe that women are serious’. Rose Chelimo of Bahrain was runner-up, 59 seconds back, and American Jordan Hasay was another 9 seconds behind to take third place. “I had heard so many great things about this race, and it exceeded any expectations that I had”. After all, another woman, Roberta Bingay Gibb, had completed the Boston Marathon in 1966 without a bib. But a tailwind gusting up to 30 miles per hour could mean fast times, at least among the elite runners who would finish before the hottest part of the day. He plans to run the New York Marathon, which he won in 2009, one last time in the fall before retiring. He finished in 2:17:01, citing heat as one factor.

Security was high along the course, which begins in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and passes through Boston’s suburbs to the finish line, where a pair of ethnic Chechen brothers on April 15, 2013 set off two homemade bombs, killing three people and injuring more than 200. “Through a series of non-competitive running clubs and private communication channels, we provide networking, healthy running support and education, and a sisterhood to women all over the world”, according to its website. Under those conditions, it’s hard to imagine the current version of the Boston Marathon even being run. Boston Police increased their staff this year with extra eyes on the ground and in the sky, and have included several checkpoints around the race and undercover officers along the race route.

“I wouldn’t say my training has been optimal”, he said.