BAA puts on half-time show
In 2001, the Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon took a detour through Fenway Park, giving runners the opportunity to skirt the outfield, touch the Green Monster, and stock up on can-you-believe-that stories.
The race was created as a more inclusive, locally focused event to complement the BAA's big baby, the Boston Marathon, and there can be no more conspicuous local focus than Fenway.
In today's seventh running of the 13.1-mile race, the runners likely would have to run through the infield with a game in progress to get any attention in a town absorbed by the Red Sox' playoff run.
But each year, the field has grown; there are a record 4,897 entrants this year. And elite runners continue to find their way to Boston.
If the weather cooperates - the forecast has temperatures dropping to 59 degrees with a 20-percent chance of rain - the men in the lead pack could push each other to a course record.
Defending champion Samuel Ndereba of Kenya (brother of four-time Marathon champ Catherine Ndereba) was only 6 seconds back of Luke Metto's 2004 mark of 1 hour 2 minutes 57 seconds last year, and the men's field is stocked with experienced runners who know the course, and newcomers hoping to claim a title.
Another Kenyan, Richard Kiplagat, runner-up last year, is determined to move up a spot in his second try at the half-marathon distance, though he had to settle for second in his most recent race, the Providence 5K, when he was outkicked by ChaseNimbia teammate Simon Ndirangu.
Two more top-tier Kenyans join the lead pack, including another Kiplagat teammate, Tom Nyariki, a veteran runner at 36 who won the New York Half Marathon last year in 1:01:22 and placed third at the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach last month. Stephen Koech, a late entry, has some fast track times on his résumé, including a 13:04 for the 5,000 meters and 27:55 for the 10K.
Celedonio Rodriguez of Colorado, 26, who beat Ndereba to win two years ago and placed fifth last year, is also back.
"The field for Boston is very solid," said Kiplagat, who has been doing a lot of long-distance runs of 18-19 miles while training in New Rochelle, N.Y., home of Iona College, where he earned both a bachelor's and master's degree. "Running on Sunday will be very hard."
The women's defending champion, Irishwoman Marie Davenport, is not running, leaving Kenyan Edna Kiplagat, 28, as the favorite.
Kiplagat, who has three road race titles this year - the Lilac Bloomsday 12K, the Bay to Breakers 12K, and the Bolder Boulder 10K - is a rookie in Boston but has a 1:09:32 best in the half marathon and won the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach Sept. 17 (1:11:14).
Other contenders for the women's title are 26-year-old Volha Kravtsova of Belarus and 20-year-old Kenyan Caroline Chepkorir. The top US women are three-time World Cross-Country Championships competitor Kathy Newberry, 29, and 33-year-old Caroline Bjune of Andover, a 2008 Olympic Trials qualifier.
Though it cuts through Boston, the Half Marathon course is more like a run in the country.
Following the Emerald Necklace of parklands created by Frederick Law Olmsted, the race begins at Roberto Clemente Field in the Fens, winds along through green bits of Brookline and Boston to the Franklin Park Zoo, then returns.
"The first half of the race is a little uphill," said Richard Kiplagat. "There is this place [the zoo] where you turn, and when you come from there, it becomes a little easier. That is where we took off last year. That is where I'm going to relax."
For some, running a half marathon is a step toward the marathon.
"The half marathon is a different kind of distance compared to the 10K And 5K," said Kiplagat. "It requires a different kind of training and focus.
"Last year I was just running. This year, I'm running to kick myself toward next year. Next year I'm moving to the marathon - probably, maybe, Boston."
