Final thoughts on Boston

Based on conversations with those who ran and looking at the results, it appears the weather was almost perfect yesterday at Boston. The men's winner, Robert Cheruiyot The Younger, is just 21 years old! In my opinion, his sub-2:06 in Boston might approach at world-best performance on a faster course (London, Berlin).

But listen. I do not want to sound like an expert, because I'm not. As stated before in this fancy blog, I'm more of a baseball fan than a track/running fan. You want legitimate running commentary and news, go to www.letsrun.com.

But allow me to pontificate about something I find fascinating with the young R. Cheruiyot's record run on Monday. The dude is 21 years old! Yes, I know I said that already. But the fact that he is so young and so good at the marathon flies in the face of conventional thinking that says distance runners should not move up to the marathon distance until they have matured and mastered their track speed and shorter-distance prowess.

And don't start with the "Oh, he's Kenyan" argument. Horsepoop. Kenyans and Ethiopians are great marathoners and distance runners for one reason: They work really, really hard in training. That is not to say that Americans are not hard workers in the sport; we are, and the results are beginning to show. In the African countries that produce great runners, the sport is a way of life, and the hard-work ethos is cultivated at an early age.

Anyway, I find it fascinating and somewhat gratifying that this young Kenyan did what he did. In my own running life, I often feel like I blew it by running my first marathon at age 19, and by running 5 marathons -- including my PR and my second-fastest time -- before the current legal drinking age. It may be part of the reason why, as I approach 46, I am basically washed up and really slow as a runner.

I still believe that it is smart to wait a while before seriously tackling the marathon distance. As a college coach, the thinking is obvious. I don't want my athletes doing marathons until after they graduate (unless their name is Luke Shane!).

And as always, I remain extremely proud of my alums who do move up to the marathon distance, no matter their motivation and results. The fact that they love running that much to do it is gratifying enough for me.

Lastly, I will leave you with the following fascinating statistics about the 1983 Boston Marathon, sent to me via e-mail from Marty McGowan ...

Longtime San Diego marathoner Craig Snapp has collected the following amazing facts about the 1983 Boston Marathon.
1. Americans grabbed 22 of the top 23 finishes, with Dean Matthews finishing 23rd in 2:14:46.
2. Overall, 84 runners broke 2:20. That still stands as a record for a single marathon. Seventy-six of the 84 were Americans. Africans: 0. Last year, by comparison, six Americans broke 2:20.
3. A total of 313 finishers broke 2:30.
4. In addition, 2,647 runners broke 3 hours. That puts the '83 Boston third in this category among all marathons ever run, including many since that were six to seven times larger.
5. The sub-3-hour finishers represented 49.1% of all finishers. Last year, 1342 runners broke 3 hours, totaling less than 5.8% of the field.
6. The average finishing time for all men was 2:59:51.
7. A decade after his win in 1973, Jon Anderson ran only 16 seconds slower than the 2:16:03 that brought him the laurel wreath in '73. This time, he finished 34th.
8. One runner changed strategy moments before the starter's gun was fired, and covered the first mile in 4:47. That runner was Joan Benoit. She broke the tape in 2:22:43, shattering the world record by 2:46. Last year, the top American woman, Kara Goucher, finished third in 2:32:35.