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The above is a thread from 2014 about Desiree (then Davila) Linden and her quest to win Boston. I don't follow the major marathons too much any more, but when I did she was one of my favorites. Desiree is 5'1", 97 pounds, and a giant of determination.
I was surprised to log on to letsrun.com and learn that she won Boston on Monday. She's the first American woman since 1985 to do it. Of course Boston is now overwhelmingly dominated by the Kenyans and Ethiopians, but this year apparently the weather did a number on them. It was very rainy and cold.
You can see the finish, and other highlights at the below link. There was also an incident where fellow top US runner Shalene Flanagan has to make a pit stop at a 'portable facility.' Desiree was running w/ her and actually waited for Shalene.
That's interesting, that the African runners got slowed down by weather they weren't accustomed to. You'd think they'd spend some time training in that kind of weather, just so it wouldn't come as a shock. There was a group of Olympic runners from East Africa training in NM, where the terrain and conditions are very similar to their home turf. I don't know if there's still some kind of Olympic training camp outside of Albuquerque for those runners. But it sounds like they should train in Seattle or outside London somewhere, to get used to cold, rainy conditions.
I know a few people who ran Boston on Monday. The weather was the worst is my understanding. In Texas, maybe even in Boston, it would have been an epic run day with people either staying home and making up their miles another day or people complaining the whole time and dragging through it. For me, the 40s is perfect running weather. It was the rain and the wind, I think, that got everyone.
Watching marathons, as a novice marathon runner, always makes me get emotional. I broke down at mile 21 during my last one and it looked like Des took over the lead around that time. Maybe one day I'll run like Des. Either way, watching people cross the finish line, no matter where they are from makes me so happy.
I've been watching Boston from the comfort of my work laptop for the last few years and the only other time I've gotten as emotional as I did on Monday was when Meb won in 2014 (I think?). Anyway. That was a hell of a day to finish a full marathon and even the very last person who finished is amazing.
That's interesting, that the African runners got slowed down by weather they weren't accustomed to. You'd think they'd spend some time training in that kind of weather, just so it wouldn't come as a shock. There was a group of Olympic runners from East Africa training in NM, where the terrain and conditions are very similar to their home turf. I don't know if there's still some kind of Olympic training camp outside of Albuquerque for those runners. But it sounds like they should train in Seattle or outside London somewhere, to get used to cold, rainy conditions.
These conditions are very unusual for Boston so it really wouldn't make sense to prepare for them, if that were even possible. Cold temps on its own is not that bad, but cold + rain + 30 mph headwinds made it impossible for them to stay warm even when running hard.
Elite marathoners, especially Africans, have the best heat dissipation abilities due to low body fat and long skinny limbs (higher surface area-to-volume ratio). 99.9% of the time this trait is an advantage in running, but on Monday it turned out to be a disadvantage.
TYou'd think they'd spend some time training in that kind of weather, just so it wouldn't come as a shock. But it sounds like they should train in Seattle or outside London somewhere, to get used to cold, rainy conditions.
No, very very few races will ever be run in conditions like Boston last week so elite professional runners would be wasting time, energy and risking injury purposefully training in these conditions.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
That's interesting, that the African runners got slowed down by weather they weren't accustomed to. You'd think they'd spend some time training in that kind of weather, just so it wouldn't come as a shock. There was a group of Olympic runners from East Africa training in NM, where the terrain and conditions are very similar to their home turf. I don't know if there's still some kind of Olympic training camp outside of Albuquerque for those runners. But it sounds like they should train in Seattle or outside London somewhere, to get used to cold, rainy conditions.
You can't seek out and find that weather for training. It was brutal. It wasn't just cold and rainy. It was torrential, bitter, and gusting winds.
This did not break a long drought of wins by Americans the way Desiree Linden's win did. In fact, this was the fifth time McFadden herself had won the race. It was a good day all around for American women, though.
BTW, meant to include that Desiree Linden was not considered a future star after college, so she did not get the big shoe deal to support her running career. She instead went to train w/ the Hanson brothers in Minnesota. They own a chain of running shoe stores in MN, and do a lot of training of runners, both aspiring pros and duffers.
From what I remember reading, it was kind of a barracks-style life for aspiring runners. Training was year-round in MN, so Desiree got plenty of experience running in bad weather.
Television announcers the day of the race also said she'd done some training in Michigan. Between there and Minnesota she must have had plenty of experience running in the cold, but in Boston on race day it was pouring buckets, and they had a strong headwind. Really impressive to run and finish under those conditions, and even more impressive to win.
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