Boston Marathon 2011

Joan Benoit Samuelson might have worn Bib No. 990, but there was no question she was No. 1 in the eyes of many draped along the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon course.
Running in her first Boston Marathon since 1993, the two-time former champion from Maine posted a respectable time of 2 hours, 51 minutes, 29 seconds. It wasn’t quite the result Samuelson had hoped for, but all things considered, she called the day a success.
“Coming into the race, my goal was to break 2:46, but I knew last Friday that wasn’t going to happen,” said Samuelson, who won the event in 1979 and 1983. “So all I wanted to do (yesterday) was finish and break three hours. It would have been nicer to break 2:50, but I’m really happy to have finished this 18 years after the last time I ran the race.”




Not surprisingly, the course presented more than its share of challenges to Samuelson, something she expected.
“It was hard trying to get my bearing for the 10K,” she said. “Then I started to feel pretty good, but by the end, I had nothing left. I got up over the (Heartbreak) Hill, got down into Cleveland Circle and I was just hoping to keep it under three hours.”
Samuelson was joined in the race by her 23-year old daughter Abby, who finished in 3:30:36.
Revolutionary idea
Tommy Marx looked like he ran right off the label of a Sam Adams bottle. That’s exactly the look he was going for.
“I consider myself a Sam Adams man,” said the 37-year-old Boston Collegegraduate.
Still, onlookers had several different interpretations of his 18th century getup.
“I heard all sorts of names,” he said. “Sam Adams, Paul Revere. ... Someone said ‘You’re getting medieval!’ What was the other one? Robin Hood.”
Despite running one of the most grueling races in the world, Marx didn’t have the hung-over look of someone who had just gone 26.2 miles, chomping on a piece of chewing gum and smiling as he answered questions afterward.
“I think it was sometime last season after (the New York Marathon), because I actually wore a Hawaiian shirt there,” he said of when he hatched the idea for his outfit. “So it gets you into a theme and really keeps you going.”
In the line of fire
Carl Lacroix of Rockland, Ontario had planned for some time to make his Boston Marathon debut. But when he learned that the Bruins [team stats] would be playing the Canadiens, the 29-year-old decided to go all out.
“As soon as I was coming to Boston and I saw that Montreal was playing in Boston, I knew I had to bring my Canadiens jersey and Montreal hat,” Lacroix said. “The timing was perfect for me.”

"During the hard times when I wanted to give up, or felt down, that's when I felt the courage from the people back home," Tsuchida said through a translator after winning the women's division for the fifth consecutive year in a world best and course record time of 1 hour, 34 minutes and 6 seconds, beating Jean Driscoll's 1994 time of 1:34.22. A consistent tail wind helped, she said.

Soejima, wearing a sticker on his jersey that read "Strength and Courage" in Japanese, won Boston for the second time in 1:18.50, using a final frantic surge to pass Australian Kurt Fearnley and nine-time champion Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa, who both finished in 1:18.51.

"I was thinking until my hands start bleeding, until my heart stops, I am going to try until the very end," Soejima said through a translator.

"With everything that has happened in Japan, I really wanted to try hard this year, especially to finish in Boston and do well for my country," he added later.

His victory even inspired those he beat.

"I think the country deserves as much good news as possible," Fearnley said.

Japan's feel good day continued across town at Fenway Park, where pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up just one hit in seven innings to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-1.

Americans Shirley Reilly and Christina Ripp were second and third in the women's race, within a second of each other, but nearly seven minutes behind Tsuchida.

The 37-year-old Tsuchida, who lost use of her legs in a car crash when she was 17, lives in Tokyo and was affected by the gasoline and water shortages caused by the natural disasters and subsequent nuclear emergency. In fact, she was scared that she wouldn't even make it to Boston.

"I really wanted to do well for everybody ... especially everybody back home," she said.

With her training regimen interrupted, she had to travel to other parts of the country to train. At one point she even trained with Soejima, who was less affected by the disaster in his hometown of Fukuoka.

The pair got another boost when they got to Boston and made their annual visit to the Red Sox.

After the race, they held up a Japanese flag signed by the entire team, including Matsuzaka. It read "Keep trying and keep the courage Japan" along the top.

The 40-year-old Soejima trailed Van Dyk, shooting for his record 10th Boston victory, and Fearnley for nearly the entire race before making his move in the final stretch.

His hands pumping furiously, he overtook both and nipped them at the line, pumping his fist in triumph as he won Boston for the first time since 2007.

"At no point did I think I was all set," he said. "I just kept pushing with everything I had until I cut the tape," said Soejima, who lost use of his legs at age 23 in a building collapse.

He even cried at the finish, but he said he always cries at the end of races, win or lose.

His one regret was that he didn't look better. "I wish I looked cooler. I wish I had sunglasses or something," he said with a chuckle.

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