Rupp runs to elite crowd
It was 30 years ago when Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya out-kicked Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania on a Boylston Street stretch run to produce the first-ever African winner of the Boston Marathon. Ever since Hussein hit the tape in 2:08:43, African men have been a dominant force, winning 27 times including 21 by Kenyans.
In recent years, Oregon native Galen Rupp has gone toe-to-toe with elite runners from Africa. The 31-year-old from Portland, who has twice won Olympic medals, is expected to renew that rivalry in tomorrow’s 122nd edition. A year ago, Rupp finished second, 21 seconds behind Kenya’s Geoffrey Kirui (2:09:37). Since then, Kirui capped a brilliant 2017 by winning the world championship (2:08:27) in London in August while Rupp won Chicago in a career-best 2:09:20 in October.
“Everything is going great, I’m so excited. I’m just real thankful. After last year, I had a little bit of a rough build-up. I was battling the plantar fasciitis in my left foot and couldn’t really train,” said Rupp, who held concerns after finishing 11th (61:59) at the 2016 Prague HalfMarathon. “You never want to run any race, let alone a big marathon like this if you’re not feeling like you are totally, physically prepared. But things have gone really well. I’ve been really healthy, first and foremost. I’ve done more volume, more mileage than I ever have before.”
Aside from Kirui, other top Kenyans include Felix Kandie, who has a personal-best of 2:06:03 (Seoul, 2017), and has declared a lifelong dream to win Boston. Coached by Sammy Bii, Kandie trains with Festus Talam, Sammy Kigen and Gilbert Kitwa.
Another interesting prospect is Philemon Rono, who represents the Kenyan Police Team. Nicknamed “Baby Police” because of his round face, Rono inadvertently bumped his head and briefly lost consciousness while warming up for last year’s Toronto Marathon but recovered in time to defend his title and set a course record (2:06:52), proving there is no concussion protocol in Kenyan athletics. Rono trains with 2016 Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge.
Three runners from Ethiopia: former Boston champs Lelisa Desisa (2013 and 2015) and Lemi Berhanu (2016), and Tamirat Tola (2:04:06, Dubai), also pose serious threats.
Rupp runs for the highly successful Nike Oregon Project, coached by Wayland product Alberto Salazar, the 1982 Boston champ. Rupp recently completed an impressive workout of 15 repeats of 1,000 meters interspersed by a 400-meter jog. He does a 25-mile run once every 10 days.
“When I ran last year, I think I may have gotten a little too anxious, excited going through the hills. I know how important and what a key part of the race it is and I think I tried to give it a little too much,” Rupp said.
Rupp isn’t overly concerned about a weather forecast of rain, a 50-degree temperature and a 10-20 mph wind.
“Being an Oregon boy I’m not really too fazed by the weather,” Rupp said. “I mean cold rain is like what it is most of the time where I’m from. It’s just something you have to be aware of, especially the wind, headwind or from the side. It’s probably the first race that I’ve run where it hasn’t been really hot, really humid for a marathon. So, I’m actually looking forward to running in cooler conditions.’’