2015 Boston Marathon, All the runners are off on schedule, running on a chilly, rainy day. Running and remembrance will share the stage Monday for the 119th running of the Boston Marathon, the second since a terrorist attack rocked the race’s finish line.
“Last year’s race was amazingly perfect, but everyone was so on edge because it was the first anniversary of the bombing,” Scott Douglas, senior content editor for Runner’s World, told Reuters. “This year the race is back to what it has long been; celebrating the sport and being the Olympics for everyday runners.”
No one, of course, can forget what happened at the finish line, when bombs went off, killing three, injuring over 260 and forever changing the race. Some of the security changes made last year will remain in place for the 30,000 runners and the countless friends, family and fans who will line the 26.2-mile route from Hopkinton, Mass., to the Boyleston Street finish line in the city.Running as a bandit (an unregistered runner) has always been discouraged and now is strictly prohibited. Runners can bring only only one-gallon clear plastic bags (one per runner) to the carry food or sports drinks to the starting line, according to the race’s sponsor, the Boston Athletic Association. Fanny packs (one per runner) are allowed as long as they are no larger than 5 inches x 15 inches x 5 inches. All other bags are prohibited. Extra clothing left at the starting line by runners will be collected and donated to charity.
Runners can check a clear plastic bag, given to them when they pick up their bibs, on Boston Common where buses to the start will load. “You must use this B.A.A.-provided, clear, plastic bag for gear check,” BAA.org states. No other bags will be accepted.”
Costumes are allowed as long as they do not cover the face and are not “non-form fitting, bulky outfit extending beyond the perimeter of the body.”The race, as much a fixture of Patriots Day in Massachusetts as the Orioles-Red Sox game at 11:05 a.m. at Fenway Park, begins at 8:50 a.m. EDT when mobility-impaired competitors start. Elite women runners go off at 9:32, followed by elite men and the first wave of male runners at 10 a.m. Three more waves of male runners follow, with the last setting off at 11 a.m. (Race map
The field, capped at 30,000, will be smaller than the 35,671 who started last year. Still that’s an increase over the 26,655 in the 2013 field.
San Diego’s Meb Keflezighi, who won last year with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, 37 seconds and became the first American winner of the race since 1983, will defend his title. Rita Jeptoo of Kenya, the 2013 and 2014 winner, will not. She is serving a two-year-suspension from competition after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That opens the women’s field, possibly giving American Shalene Flanagan a better chance at becoming the first American woman to win in 30 years. (The last was Lisa Larsen Rainsberger.)
No one, of course, can forget what happened at the finish line, when bombs went off, killing three, injuring over 260 and forever changing the race. Some of the security changes made last year will remain in place for the 30,000 runners and the countless friends, family and fans who will line the 26.2-mile route from Hopkinton, Mass., to the Boyleston Street finish line in the city.Running as a bandit (an unregistered runner) has always been discouraged and now is strictly prohibited. Runners can bring only only one-gallon clear plastic bags (one per runner) to the carry food or sports drinks to the starting line, according to the race’s sponsor, the Boston Athletic Association. Fanny packs (one per runner) are allowed as long as they are no larger than 5 inches x 15 inches x 5 inches. All other bags are prohibited. Extra clothing left at the starting line by runners will be collected and donated to charity.
Runners can check a clear plastic bag, given to them when they pick up their bibs, on Boston Common where buses to the start will load. “You must use this B.A.A.-provided, clear, plastic bag for gear check,” BAA.org states. No other bags will be accepted.”
Costumes are allowed as long as they do not cover the face and are not “non-form fitting, bulky outfit extending beyond the perimeter of the body.”The race, as much a fixture of Patriots Day in Massachusetts as the Orioles-Red Sox game at 11:05 a.m. at Fenway Park, begins at 8:50 a.m. EDT when mobility-impaired competitors start. Elite women runners go off at 9:32, followed by elite men and the first wave of male runners at 10 a.m. Three more waves of male runners follow, with the last setting off at 11 a.m. (Race map
The field, capped at 30,000, will be smaller than the 35,671 who started last year. Still that’s an increase over the 26,655 in the 2013 field.
San Diego’s Meb Keflezighi, who won last year with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, 37 seconds and became the first American winner of the race since 1983, will defend his title. Rita Jeptoo of Kenya, the 2013 and 2014 winner, will not. She is serving a two-year-suspension from competition after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That opens the women’s field, possibly giving American Shalene Flanagan a better chance at becoming the first American woman to win in 30 years. (The last was Lisa Larsen Rainsberger.)
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