Run, Karla, Run!

There’s a new Robert Cheruiyot in town. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, a 21 year-old upstart from Kenya, won the 114^th Boston Marathon, shattering the course record by 82 seconds in the process. The previous course record holder? None other than Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, an unrelated Kenyan who won the Boston Marathon four times in 2003 and 2006-2008.

“I tried to show my talent,” Cheruiyot said immediately after the race. And he certainly did.

The new course record of 2:05:52 is also a personal best for Cheruiyot, whose age and performance was reminiscent of another young marathoner who burst onto the scene in 2008 with a gold medal win at the Beijing Olympics: Sammy Wanjiru, who was also just 21 at the time. In an event like the marathon where runners are often in their late 20’s to late 30’s, these two Kenyans may start a new trend of younger runners giving the distance a shot. Read the rest of this entry →

For the first time in years, the U.S. has two runners who could conceivably win Monday’s 114^th running of the Boston Marathon: Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall. An American hasn’t won the race since Lisa Larsen Rainsberger in 1985 on the women’s side and Greg Meyer in 1983 on the men’s side.

The Boston Marathon is the oldest and most storied marathon in the world, and for good reason—it’s also the most exclusive. Runners must qualify for the race, a feat that only 10.4 percent of marathon finishers accomplish. On the professional side, it’s just as exclusive; a victory in Boston means a laurel wreath, a World Marathon Majors win and a place in history. Read the rest of this entry →

Meb Keflezighi chases down Kenya’s Robert Cheruiyot at the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 1. Photo by Randy Lemoine.

It only took 27 years. For the first time since Alberto Salazar ran away with the title in 1982, an American won the ING New York City Marathon. On Sunday, Nov. 1, Meb Keflezighi cruised to victory in 2:09:15 wearing a “U.S.A.” singlet. Does his win signal the return of the great American marathoner?

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, marathon legends Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Salazar enjoyed an era when Americans actually won races, and inspired a generation of runners to hit the pavement in the process—running boom, anyone? Indeed, Rodgers has the most major marathon wins—8 of them—of any runner in history according to the World Marathon Majors, a two-year race series with a $1 million prize. (New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Berlin comprise the Majors, along with the Olympics and World Championships as qualifying races.) But African runners have largely dominated the sport since. Sure, an American star like Deena Kastor—who won Chicago in 2005 and London in 2006—has challenged the status quo every now and then. But on the world’s streets at large, the U.S. hasn’t been a factor. Certainly not like Kenya or Ethiopia. But this year on the mean streets of New York, a total of six American men finished in the top 10—the most since 1979—with Keflezighi taking the crown. All signs point to a potential renaissance. Read the rest of this entry →