7 Comments

Alison, thank you so much for featuring the information about the age group winners. I'm so inspired by these incredible women athletes of all ages! Love that you make this a focus of your newsletter.

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Thank you Alison for always giving the best updates. I have moved to the other side of the world (New Zealand) and have had a hard time getting my latest American running coverage. Grateful to be getting these weekly newsletters! Also please keep putting Para Athletics division results, loved reading about our winners in all groups <3

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Thank you for this awesome newsletter and especially for linking to the interview with Tonya and for listing all the para division winners and the age group leaders!

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I didn't feel that the banana guy's costume was banana-like enough to warrant record-breaking status (and I say this as a guy who – in homage to Gary Fanelli – once came third in a road race dressed as Elwood Blues (it took me two dry cleanings to get the sweaty salt stains out of the suit jacket; it was a hot day). He was basically wearing a yellow tunic. Two thumbs down! 🍌🍌

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Fair. I don’t know if he was going for an official record or not. A lot of people don’t bother with the Guinness process, but if it was official, Guinness would have had costume requirements. But either way, he spread some joy on his way to Boston.

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Absolutely. And yet ... 😂😂😂

Some years ago, I ran the Tokyo Marathon. I no longer get an elite start position, so I stood in the freezing rain for 90 minutes before the start and eventually dropped out at 17K with a calf strain, but before I did, I saw a guy come past me wearing a whale on his head. Yes, wearing a whale on his head. I thought to myself, "I'm going to lose to a guy wearing a whale on his head." And that happened.

But you may remember Whale Guy, because a few years later, in another Japanese marathon, he ran the final 10K or so with the women's leader. He wasn't one of those guys who wants or needs to bask in the limelight of the women's leader; he was simply a very good runner trying to get to the finish at 2:20 pace, or whatever she was running. But they ran together, and obviously it's not every day you see a whale running stride for stride with the women's leader of a major marathon.

At the finish, they went into different chutes, and inevitably Whale Guy got quite a bit of attention. Turns out he was once a good university runner, and he said, "Sometimes I wear the whale, sometimes I don't. Today I grabbed the whale on my way out the door, and I guess now he's famous." 🐳😆

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Love it!

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