Edna Kiplagat, 44, just ran a hilly 10K in 32:12. Wait until you see what she did for a warmup jog

Between the somehow-still-expanding magic of supershoes and whatever else is in the world-class distance mix, age is just one more irrational number

A strange thing happened on Monday at the Boston Marathon after the lead women’s pack of fifteen runners passed the 20-mile mark. Although the group of fifteen runners shrunk as the group climbed Heartbreak Hill, the pack was only whittled by three bodies. This was in spite of the leaders gapping the three runners who fell off the pace by 16 seconds, with the vanguard covering the 21st mile in 5:46-5:47 and American Emma Bates and her two Kenyan companions running that stretch in 6:05-6:06.

Twelve runners staying together in the lead through the 21st mile of the Boston Marathon may be unprecedented, as that climb, though objectively modest, is often where large lead packs string out into packlets and single bodies. But even if this has never happened, it’s a sign that an absolute barnburner is soon to follow. That was already predictable on the basis of the leaders reaching 20 miles in barely under 2:26 pace, but the tepid 21st mile made things especially interesting.

In 2001, when I ran 2:24:17 on the same course, I reached 30K in 1:41:25 and was told by an official I was in 39th place. After a second foiled attempt that afternoon to enter a roadside port-a-john—as had happened near 18 miles, I had found the sulking edifice occupied—I got to 20 miles in 1:48:52, having run 5:29 pace since the 30K mark and a little under 5:27s overall. I reached 21 miles in 1:54:40 (5:48 mile), 35K in 1:58:40 (0.748 miles at 5:21 pace), and 22 miles in right around two hours on the nose (5:20 mile split).

I then successfully disappeared into a port-a-john on my third charmed try, doing my miserable business in around 45 seconds. I tried not to make up for lost time on the downhill 23rd mile, but I got to 23 miles in 2:06-flat, so I was probably either shitting or running 5:15 pace between official mile checkpoints.

I reached 24 miles in around 2:11:30 (5:30 split) and then started paying for my exuberance upon exiting the (completely devastated) port-a-john two miles to the west. It’s also possible I was going to get tired no matter what, this being a marathon and all. I got to 40K in 2:16:21, 25 miles in 2:17:12 (5:42 mile), and one mile to go in 2:18:19. I ran my final mile in 5:48, my slowest of the race.

I also ran the last 6.21875 miles in 35:25 for a final 10K of around 35:23 (5:42 pace). Despite the pit stop, I wound up the 28th male and 29th overall, gaining ten or so places between 30K and the finish. The only runner who passed me in that stretch was women’s winner Catherine Ndereba, who absolutely blew by me somewhere in the last mile along with a phalanx of motorbikes. Ndereba put 24 seconds on me in about a half-mile, reportedly running her final mile in 5:01.

Compare these numbers to the women's field yesterday in Boston. Below are Monday’s top fifteen finishers (elite runner results).

Superimposing my own 2001 race on the 2024 Boston women’s race, I would have been ahead of the women’s leaders by ~2:14 at 20 miles and by ~2:13 at 21 miles. But all things the same, I would have wound up a distant sixth in the standings that matter, a clean 100 seconds behind winner Hellen Obiri. And even in an imagined shitless scenario in which I ran 45 seconds faster to bring me down to 2:23:32, I still would have been dusted by three women who were over 600 meters behind me with only five miles remaining.

Obiri got from 20 miles to the finish in 31:31, which is 5:04 pace despite including her 5:47 split for mile 21 including Heartbreak Hill. From 21 miles on, Obiri ran 5.21875 miles in 25:44—4:56 pace.

The final ~5.2 miles of the Boston Marathon feature an elevation loss of around 200 feet. Still, I don’t personally know many women who could run 4:56 pace even on fresh legs and given a 40-foot-per-mile gravitational gift.

Third-place finisher Edna Kiplagat obviously turned heads by running a 2:23:21 marathon at age 44. But just her last 10K in around 32:12 (5:10 pace) and her last 5.21875 miles in 26:28 (5:04) pace) would be noteworthy even given the forgiving topography. And the fact that Kiplagat buried amazing efforts over multiple shorter distances within an already spectacular marathon suggests she’s capable of running 2:20-2:21 in an evenly paced effort on a records-caliber course.

How’s that for burying the lede?