My Achilles tendon is doing a lot better. I’m running short distances without pain, but I couldn’t make up for nearly two months of lost training, so I will be merely a spectator at the Boston Marathon starting line tomorrow morning. Nevertheless, I went into the city with Eric today to pick up my swag bag. Then I visited what I’ll call the quitter’s corral to return my transponder chip and bib. Registration cost me $200, and for my money I’m getting a $30 shirt.
This year there are two interesting American entries in the race. The Grand Master, Boston’s own Bill Rodgers, says he’ll be jogging it in four hours, which is literally half the speed of his heyday. The last time he ran it, which was the first time I ran Boston, ten years ago, Rodgers dropped out at Heartbreak Hill. Rodgers had prostate cancer surgery last year.
It was also ten years ago that I first read about Ryan Hall, who was in high school and running the mile in just over four minutes. Now he’s a marathoner, and he has a shot at being the first American to win in Boston since Greg Meyer way back in 1983.
