Road rave 4/22/03 - All the way down Beacon Street, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot kept glancing anxiously over his shoulder, as if he were being chased by the Headless Horseman or the ghost of Clarence DeMar. ''I was looking for my friend,'' the winner of the 107th Boston Marathon said, after he'd run away from Benjamin Kosgei Kimutai and more than 17,000 other panting pursuers yesterday afternoon. ''I was expecting him to be behind me.''
Zakharova distances herself from the pack 4/22/03 - The last time, her first time, was like a bad blind date. Svetlana Zakharova was 26 then, single (her last name was Vasilieva), and not very experienced. She thought she had the running world all figured out, but in reality, she wasn't completely aware of what she was getting herself into when she entered the 1996 Boston Marathon. That Patriots Day went so poorly she decided she never again wanted to see the course. She finished 15th with a time of 2 hours 39 minutes 59 seconds. Don't bother calling.
Boston street smarts 4/22/03 - It was somewhere around the 10- or 15-kilometer mark, with all those reed-thin Kenyan guys looking as if they hadn't yet even exhaled, never mind break a sweat, that the thought crossed my mind. Can't someone from around here do that?
Kimutai got over the hump 4/22/03 - It only seems as if most East Africans feel at home with the Boston Marathon course. The fact is, some of their elite runners are much less familiar with it than the average West Newtonian.
Runyan finishes fifth after an uphill battle 4/22/03 - For more than 2 1/2 hours and 26 miles yesterday, Marla Runyan was on her own. Amid a sea of human interest stories at the 107th running of the Boston Marathon, Runyan stood out as a solitary profile in courage, very much up to this grueling challenge.
Denisova knew her place: 2d 4/22/03 - Svetlana Zakharova, the elite women's winner of yesterday's 107th Boston Marathon, was asked if she was concerned about Russian countrywoman Lyubov Denisova after Zakharova overtook Denisova for the lead at the 21-mile mark.
Hellebuyck, the old master, leads the way 4/22/03 - In a race that hasn't had an American winner in 20 years, it was left to veteran Eddy Hellebuyck to author the best finish by a US male runner in yesterday's Boston Marathon.
Ripp, Van Dyk: Spin control 4/22/03 - Christina Ripp, the 22-year-old winner of the women's wheelchair division yesterday, can't escape the shadow of eight-time Boston winner Jean Driscoll. But that's high praise after Ripp, a senior at the University of Illinois, won her first Boston Marathon title yesterday, posting a 1:54:47 to edge Cheri Blauwet of San Lorenzo, Calif., (1:54:57) and defending champion Edith Hunkeler (1:56:54) of Switzerland.
The Russian contingent was rushin' to the finish 4/22/03 - Russian runners didn't make their mark only on the women's division of yesterday's Boston Marathon, they also dominated the masters races.
Resounding Wellesley message: voices carry 4/22/03 - The steel barrier in front of Wellesley College at Route 135 separated students and other onlookers from the Boston Marathon field.
Where heart and sole are put to the test 4/22/03 - Just after noon, the expectation and noise were building. They had come in the thousands -- 10,000, a police sergeant said -- and once again lined both sides of Commonwealth Avenue in Newton in a series of three grades known collectively as Heartbreak Hill.
Hopkinton's revamped entrance was a just beginning 4/22/03 - It took approximately 23 minutes for all of the official entrants to make it to the starting line of the Boston Marathon. It took another 7 minutes for the unofficial runners to make their way by the grandstand in front of Hopkinton Green.
Pushing the limits for advancement 4/22/03 - Cradling a styrofoam cup sloshing with blue Gatorade, exhaustion hammering his face, Roger Schafer pondered his place in Boston Marathon history.
Up-close view for this father 4/22/03 - My normal Patriots Day procedure in recent years: Settle down in family room at mid-morning with sandwiches and coffee. Set up one TV with picture-in-picture to monitor local coverage of Boston Marathon. Set portable radio on couch to check in on the WBZ coverage. Put second TV on temporary table next to main TV, tuned to ESPN2's coverage during the race, but airing the Red Sox broadcast until noon. It's a great gig but admittedly lonely when hundreds of thousands are out watching the Hopkinton-to-Boston parade. Anyone who wanders into my room soon runs out, hands over their ears, from the broadcast cacophony.
Girl OK after wheelchair collision 4/22/03 - A frightening collision between wheelchair racer Krige Schabort and an unidentified 7-year-old girl in Natick turned out well for both. Schabort recovered to finish second behind Ernst Van Dyk and the girl was treated at Leonard Morse Hospital and released, according to Natick Police Sergeant Richard Douglas.
4/22/03 - SOME PEOPLE called it predictable. Another Kenyan runner -- Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot -- wore the men's laurel wreath and medal at the Boston Marathon finish line, and four of his countrymen filled the top slots close behind him.
Kenyans hand out heartbreak 4/21/03 - They will troop to the starting line in Hopkinton for the 107th BAA Marathon just before noon today, as they have every year since 1988. If they sense who among the 10 of them is in the best form, the Kenyans are keeping it to themselves. All they know is that the odds are huge that by 2:08 or so, one of them is going to break the tape in Copley Square for the 12th time in 13 years.
Ferrell likes role of marathon man 4/21/03 - It sounds like a skit from "Saturday Night Live." A couple goes for a run while on vacation on Martha's Vineyard. They decide to clock the distance later in the car, and discover they had run 7 miles. "Man, that's by far the longest we've ever run!" says the husband.
He'll go twice the distance for cystic fibrosis research 4/21/03 - David Nerrow, 36, of Acton intends to run from Hopkinton to Boston today, just like 20,233 others in the Boston Marathon. He'll start a couple of hours later than everyone else, though, because at 10 a.m. he'll begin pounding out 26.2 miles on a treadmill at the Puma Store on Newbury Street.
Rolling Rop 4/20/03 - He and his wife wouldn't have done it if he'd won a different marathon. Rotterdam Rop? ''Not that,'' Rodgers Rop said, shaking his head.
Women's field will be focusing on quiet Okayo 4/20/03 - Last year at this time, Catherine Ndereba, the two-time Boston Marathon winner, was vowing not just to win, but to set a course record.
Expanded field up over 20,000 4/20/03 - After limiting the size of the marathon field to 15,000 for the past two years, the Boston Athletic Association has made a concession to the growing number of older runners and younger women and eased its qualifying times for those over 45.
Running with new ideas 4/20/03 - Runners take their first steps out of Hopkinton on Patriots Day never knowing where the road of life ultimately will lead them.
Taking a course in success 4/19/03 - The first marathon Milena Glusac raced was in New York City two years ago.
For Hancock, marathon still going strong 4/19/03 - When the US Olympic Committee's food fight was at its worst this winter, David D'Alessandro was just a couple of days away from removing the tarnished domestic rings from everywhere his sponsoring financial services company had them.
She was on fast track 20 years ago 4/19/03 - Joan Benoit Samuelson said she wasn't thinking about a world record when she hung up her astounding 2:22:43 here 20 years ago yesterday.
A running joke? Not to Ferrell 4/18/03 - Will Ferrell, famous for Saturday nights in New York, will be joining the field for Monday afternoon's race in Boston.
An end to this American trail? 4/18/03 - Greg Meyer never thought it would be 20 years and counting until another US male won the Boston Marathon. "Hell, I thought I'd win it again," says Meyer, whose 1983 victory now stands as the high-water mark for domestic road racing.
Anniversary of a win that was a piece of cake 4/18/03 - Everybody figured Greg Meyer was going to win that day in 1983, except for Greg Meyer. At least not coming through Natick. Benji Durden was in the lead and pulling away. Meyer had felt "crummy" for the first 10 miles. "You're thinking, am I going to have a decent day?" Meyer says.
Chepchumba has extended her goals 4/18/03 - Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya had always excelled in 20K races and never considered running 26-plus miles. So when she went along with her friend, Tegla Loroupe, in the 1995 New York City Marathon, Chepchumba figured she'd peel off at the 20K mark. But she felt OK despite the wind and cold, and still felt fine at the 40K mark. "What have I done?" she asked herself, and thought of bailing out.
Jogging his memory 4/18/03 - In 1968, Ambrose (Amby) Burfoot was a 21-year-old senior at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and, while a fine runner, he was far from the favorite to win the Boston Marathon. But something happened in the month prior to the event, something that would change the outcome. Burfoot found himself in "perfect flow." "I had very high expectations for myself. I had finished 17th the year before," said Burfoot. "But it went beyond that when, three or four weeks before the marathon, I was in perfect flow. When I went out and trained, it was like I was running on air. And that had not always been my experience. I told a couple of my best friends that I had a real chance to win. I didn't crow it from the rooftops, because that would have been ludicrous.
Long-distance shooting 4/18/03 - Christina Ripp, a wheelchair entrant in Monday's 107th Boston Marathon, is a basketball player first and a marathoner second. But most of all, she's a 22-year-old from Dane, Wis., studying at the University of Illinois.
Only chance to take the Kenyans to school 4/18/03 - In an elaborate school program highlighted by an NBA-like introduction of the elite athletes -- replete with spotlights, smoke, confetti blasts, ear-splitting tunes, and a cascade of balloons -- the 541 students of the Elmwood School gathered in their gymnasium yesterday and welcomed the 13-member Kenyan contingent here for the 107th Boston Marathon. Raising their tiny voices to the rafters, the second- and third-graders in unison greeted the Kenyans by shouting "Jambo!"
She's mastered balancing act 4/18/03 - When Linda Somers Smith's alarm goes off at 6 every morning, she drags herself out of bed, puts on her running clothes, and heads out for her daily workout. There is no coach with a whistle telling Somers Smith to do 10 of this or 20 of that, or to time her splits, but that's OK with her.
Taxing returns 4/18/03 - "Every year I say no," says Pam Kelley, a 25-year old English teacher from South Boston who began running the Boston Marathon six years ago. "But then I'll find a different reason to run just one more."
Nada Saya is running away 4/17/03 - When the man walks around Seoul with that slouching, bouncing lope of his, most passersby make him for a point guard. Lanky, leggy black guy halfway around the world from home -- what else? ''People think I am an American basketball player,'' John Nada Saya says. ''Same face.'' But not the same game. Nada Saya, who makes his Hopkinton-to-Boston debut at high noon Monday, does his running in a straight line in a little less than 2 hours 9 minutes. Back in Tanzania, where most major marathons are televised, nobody confuses him for an itinerant roundballer. But in Korea, where Nada Saya was the first foreign elite runner to take to the roads two summers ago, he's still something of a novelty.
Women: Little chance for broken record 4/17/03 - For so long, it seems, the 2-hour-20-minute marathon was a holy grail to most elite women runners. It was an unreachable goal. An impenetrable barrier. Until Japan's Naoko Takahashi set the world record by running the first sub-2:20 in the Berlin Marathon Sept. 30, 2001, with a winning time of 2:19:46.
A wait off her shoulders 4/16/03 - The Boston Marathon just grabs some people, seizes their hearts with a grip at once exciting and unbreakable. Running legends Joan Benoit Samuelson and Alberto Salazar are two of those people, and as the 107th Boston Marathon approaches, Nike is featuring their faces in its marathon advertising campaign. Billboards displayed in Back Bay station and in sporting goods stores across the city celebrate Marathon Monday with portraits of famous runners, who share their Boston experiences.
Help for Runyan 4/16/03 - A cyclist will help Marla Runyan navigate the Boston Marathon course, race officials confirmed yesterday.
Her prep runneth over 4/13/03 - As competitors lined up for the start of the United States 15-kilometer championships here in March, the public address announcer introduced the more popular entrants. Former champions. Renowned runners. The names echoed from speakers in the downtown area, and were read in a tone that said, ''You should be impressed.'' Marla Runyan stretched, bounced, and ran in place during the announcements. It was her debut in this event, but she was the top-ranked American marathoner, a multiple US champion on the roads and track, and a Sydney Olympian -- not to mention someone with a remarkable knack for faring well in debuts. Yet her name was not called at the start.
Team Hoyt will skip marathon 4/10/03 - After a 22-year run that has brought inspiration to participants and fans, Dick Hoyt, 63, and his son, Rick, 31, will not be racing in the 107th Boston Marathon April 21.
Free clinic to treat Marathon injuries 4/6/03 - Boston Marathon runners who feel excessively fatigued, or whose feet are swollen or cut one or two days after the race, can take advantage of a free marathon runners' injury clinic offered by Newton-Wellesley Hospital from 4 to 7:30 p.m. April 22 and 23.
In the long run, marathon may hurt 4/1/03 - It is hailed as the zenith of human performance, an event testing the true mettle of athletes -- the marathon, a 26-mile, joint-jolting measure of running prowess and emotional endurance.
They'll take another run at it 3/25/03 - The field of elite runners that was announced yesterday for the 107th Boston Marathon has -- surprise, surprise -- a distinctly Kenyan flair, especially on the men's side, where 11 of the 18 best are from Kenya.
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