Deena Kastor, Olympic medalist and dominant marathoner for last 10 years, after finishing 6th.
Shalane Flanagan, the new "queen" of American distance, heading for victory.
Meb Keflezghi knows he's got it in the bag with quarter mile to go
Abdi Abdirahamn makes a bold move to push the pace mid-race, leading Ryan Hall, Meb and Ritz
FIrst mile as the elitest of the elite get away fast. Half of the race was through downtown skyscaper-lined streets, and the other half along a river bikepath.10:24AM - BRUNSWICK, MAINE:
I took a complete "winger" last week and grabbed a flight from wintry Maine to sunny (but chilly) Texas. It was a speculative freelance photo-assault for me, but also just a chance, as a fan, to be at the heart of the action in what was promising to be an epic showdown in the marathon.
The Trials to determine the team representing USA in the marathon were held last weekend in Houston, Texas. For the first time the USATF had combined the men and women not only same location same weekend, but they ran them in the same race with a 15-minute stagger. Wow, bold move. As a spectator is was great, as they ran 3 laps of an 8-mile loop and you could see the race pass by at least 8 times by walk from one block to the next. Very cool.
Except, the good times all caught up with themselves when the men were trying to finish, and the leaders, all within a handful of seconds of each other and vying for those coveted 3 spots, had to dodge packs of women runners who still had 8 miles to go.
In this picture of the winner, Meb Kheflezghi, it looks like he's winning a race against women (actually not an easy thing. I would have got dead last in the women's race - on my BEST DAY!!)
when actually Ryan Hall was only seconds back, and Abdi Abdirahman and Dathan Ritzenhein desperately digging for the last seat on the plane to London.
All in all a spectacular weekend (I sadly didn't stay for the Houston Marathon and RunningUSA convention afterwards) of distance running.
We are at the threshold of a resurgence in elite running in the USA. The next few years are going to be very exciting to be distance running fan.
