Boston Marathon - Live Blogging......

9:26- Mocha Latte: check.
Six pack of Blue Moon: check.
I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready...

9:30- Looks like great weather. Mid 40's, partly cloudy, winds 16mph.

9:32- The women are off! They look tiny and slow. I know, I'm just jealous cause they are faster than me.

9:34- I like Tony Reavis announcing. Larry Rawson is a schmuck though.

9:36- Two stocky looking Asians in front. Everyone else tucked in right behind. Pack of 14.

9:44- 12 minutes in they give a 10:59 through 2 miles split.

9:38- 6:25 into race and no mile split yet. Great job!!

9:40- 8:30 into race going to commercial, still no split for the first mile.

9:46- Women are stringing out a bit. Asians still out front pushing it. Men are warming up. Hall looks good.

9:50- no 3 mile split. no 5k split. My blood pressure is going up up up

9:55- 4 miles 22:14. 2:26 pace. Chinese out front still but pack is bunched back up.

10:00- The men are off.

10:02- Prize money
First 150,000
Second 75,000
Third 40,000

World Record Bonus 50,000
Course Record Bonus 25,000


10:05- Hall out front. Interesting. Not flying though. Some retro looking red and blue USA singlet. Kind of ugly. No mile split. WHAT THE FUCK IS SO HARD ABOUT GIVING MILE SPLITS AS THEY HAPPEN??

10:10- women on 2:28 pace through 6 miles. Chinese out front still.
Hall leading men. 9:30 in and no splits. You motherfuckers....

10:13- Hall in front, Merga just behind him, then everyone else. no split at 13:10 in.. oy vey

10:15- I can see Rohat and Vega just off main pack. They are lurking there. STILL NO SPLITS after 5k?!?!

10:16- 14:57 5K. Merga taking the lead for a minute then tucked back in.

10:18- Men are running about 9 wide now. Hall has dropped back in the pack a bit. Merga up front.

10:19- the two Chinese women still leading the women but they are still bunched up in pack. Everyones there. still on 2:28ish pace

10:22-Hall back in front. Meb there with him now. They just traded smiles and a laugh. 5k split last year was 14:34 btw.

10:24Hall is looking VERY relaxed out front. More so than anyone behind him. Still not giving splits!! over 5 in now

10:264:56 for the 5th mile

10:27 women 15k in 53:01 2:29 pace now. Men on 2:07 pace

10:30- second wave of men just starting. lots of gray hair in that crowd.

10:31- Grigoryeva out front now for women. Chinese right behind her 1:00:00 in.

10:35 Chinese women back in front. they are 1-2. Grigoryeva 3rd. Still a pack. Hall still leading men. Merga right behind him. Still a pack with everyone there. 37min in.

10:37- 30:05 10k split 6 min. after passing it. Great. still 2:07 pace.

10:39- one of the Chinese women in front is Jia, this is her debut for marathon.

10:41 Ethiopians making a move to the front. Tune and Legese

10:42- Wheelchair sprint finish!

10:44- And Ernst Van Dyke wins his 9th Boston Wheelchair title. Well that's something.

10:44- Ok Universal Sports, how about some mens race coverage and some splits?? no?

10:47- 3 Ethiopians have broken women's race. they are out front by a 30 yards. And oh shit. Merga breaking mens open. Meb hanging close. Hall dropping back 50 yards.

10:49- Merga pushing it here. Early move and not even halfway. Him and one other I can't tell who with lead. Hall is back a ways.

10:53- The coverage sucks balls. I love how they just cut back to the action AFTER the big moves and you don't even see what happened.

10:54- more wheelchair coverage. ooh an interview with the winner. how exciting.

10:55- I'm going to multi-task here and start preparing my angry letter to Universal Sports. "Dear Fucks,...."

10:56- Hall is back out front, but who knows how the hell the happened... the pack is back together with Hall in front. incredible. Would have been nice to see that!

10:58- Tune and Legese are 1-2 out front. 1:25 in. Splits? what splits??

10:59- Merga threw down a 4:35 mile on the break. This is good for Hall. He sat back and called their bluff. Back in front.

11:00- Hall soaking up the cheers from the crowd. He is looking comfortable still. He just ran around the back side of bottle table. that was weird.

11:02- Legese has about 3 steps on Tune. No clue where the rest of the women are. They are not showing them

11:04- i'm an idiot. That's ERKESSO out front. Not Legese. But who cares really? Back to men please..

11:07- Holy smokes, they come back from commercial and Erkesso is way out front of Tune now. Can't even see her. Erkesso looks like she has this locked up now 1:36 in. Nobody close to her. Tune vanished.

11:09- 7 men are breaking again, meb is 7th back. Hall trailing again. Merga second. Big push here.

11:10- Hall seems to be running even and not going with the moves. Worked on the first move, but we have 8 men now out front by 100 yards or so with no Hall in sight. Meb is with the leaders in 8th

11:12- Hall is 9th he is close enough now and gaining back ground. He is def. not out

11:13- Break pack looks to be slowing up again. Meb looks to be straining a little in 6th. Merga relaxed in 2nd. I can't tell the Kenyan in front.

11:14- This coverage is managing to miss all the action. It may be the worst ever. Commercial break. Watch them come back and Hall is in front.

11:18- Erkesso 54sec. lead at 30k. 16:57 split from 25k to 30k to break Tune.

11:19- Goumri is out front for men now. Merga second. Still pack of 7 with meb on the back. Hall barely in sight now. 150yds back maybe. Not looking good for him right now.

11:24- Erkesso doesn't look particularly good in front, but she will have to die pretty hard to lose it. Back to men please...BACK TO MEN PLEASE

11:2 of course another break during the break.
Cheryuiot and Merga are surging again. side by side and they have a big lead now. No meb, no Hall 1:30 in...

11:30- The keep showing Erkesso running alone while there is a race happening with the men. I just don't get it.

11:31 Men are on course record 2:06 pace. Merga and Cheruyiot have a good lead. They are not showing how much though. No word on Hall.

11:34- 14th mile 4:37 from Merga and Chery. Hall is wayyyy back. Dead meat there.

11:35- 16:55 5k split from Erkesso 30-35k. she has 2min lead now.

11:36- Erkesso looks in bad shape all sudden. looks like shes gonna puke and is slowing.

11:37 Hall a min. back at 30k.

11:39- Goumri has dropped out. I thin Meb is 4th about 30 sec back..

11:40- A russian in her debut is in view of Erkesso now and looking great. smiling and waving to camera guy. could be interesting...

11:41- Merga has put a few steps on Chery

11:43 Russian 35 sec. back of Erkesso now. Made up close to 90 sec. in about 2 miles and still gaining. Meb in 4th for men.

11:44- Chery now a few steps on Merga...1:44 they are still clear of everyone else..still course record pace. Can they hold on to it or will someone reel them back in? They look pretty good right now. Not struggling. But it is fast..

11:47- Erkesso's lead now 28sec. with 2 miles to go. She seems to have recovered a little from her rough patch.

11:48 Chery looked back at Merga and shook his head. Like a "fuck. he's still there" look.

11:51- Some splits via letsrun.com
Men's 5k splits
5k 14:58
10k 30:06 15:08
15k 44:58 14:52
20k 1:00:11 15:13
Half 1:03:25 HM Ryan Hall leading
25k 1:15:01 14:50 (lead pack, Cheruiyot, Kebede, Merga, Meb, Kigen, Gomri, Yegon, ~Mandago)
30k 1:29:58 14:57
35k 1:44:47 14:49

11:52- 16 sec. lead for Erkesso with mile to go. Gonna be a close finish..


11:53- Chery had broken Merga and put 30yds on him. Nobody close to Merga. So Chery is way out front at 1:54 in

11:55- Hall is over 2 min back of leader in 6th

11:57- Erkesso holding 14 sec lead with 600 to go. She is giving her all here

11:58- Russian is making big push 8 sec back!

11:58- Erkesso holds on for win. 2:26:12.

12:00- Girma and defending champ Kosgei battling for 3rd. side by side. and Kosgei takes 3rd.

12:01- Chery looking smooth here at 2:01 in. Big big lead. May have course record locked.

12:03- Cheruiyiot is locked in for win in final mile

12:06- course record CRUSHED. 2:05:50. Ho Ly Smokes.

12:07- Kebede in 2nd 2:06:--. where did Merga go.

12:07- Hall closing on Merga for 3rd!!

12:08- Hall is a beastly finisher but always loses in 2nd rd of race

12:08- Hall couldn't catch Merga both around 2:08:40 for 3rd and 4th. Hall closed well and looked strong at finish but only 4th today. Should have kept the beard...

12:12 Hall is so good and always performs well overall, but he just cannot cover the surges and handle the pace changes. I know he's been working on it, but obviously hasn't helped. He always drops back to 10th or so and comes back to finish 3rd or 4th. He's a great marathoner no doubt, but he will never win racing like that.

12:14- Hall's time is fastest ever by American in Boston

Meb was 5th in 2:09:26.
Lehmkuhle 2:12
Vega 2:13:47.
Not bad. Did I call a Vega 2:14??? I think I diiiiid.

To clear up any confusion, because there are at least 4 elite Robert Cheryuiot's. The winner was the 21 y-o...oh who cares....it wasn't Ryan Hall...

anyway THAT particular Cheryuiot just took home $175,000. That will be many cattle and much land. Sacks of grain for everyone!!!