MoMileSplit

Several dozen Kansas City area runners have qualified for the 2012 Boston Marathon, which starts Monday morning. I'll be there in Wave 2, ready for the 26.2 mile challenge ahead.

This will be my second marathon, and I wouldn't have made it this far without the Blue River Road running crew, about a half-dozen older male runners who do 12 to 30 miles Sunday mornings on a marked course on Blue River Road south of Bannister Road.

After I ran the Minneapolis Marathon in 2011, and qualified for Boston in 3:36:03 in the 55-59 male age group, they're the ones who challenged me to do another one.

So thanks a lot to Ken Beach (at age 60, Boston 2012 will be his 50th marathon), Greg Hall (dad of Liberty distance runner Shannon Hall) and Greg Heilers, all of whom also qualified for Boston next Monday.

The marathon should be a lot of fun and, yes, hard work if I run as I hope to.

Good luck to any other Boston qualifiers reading this, and I hope to have a positive report next week.

Yael

@yael
Stockton coach, T.Jay Sanderson, is running Boston. He is attempting to break 2:30, hopefully a recent knee inflammation doesn't slow him down.

@yael

I hope you've been doing your runs in long-sleeved shirts. It's supposed to be a hot one on Monday. So hot that the BAA is allowing entry deferment to next year for those who don't want to risk the heat. Best of luck Yael.

@MichaelFarmer

Michael, thanks very much. Ah, yes, the Sean Nunn "wear a long shirt in training so you're ready for hot weather" tip.

Alas, it's been in the 50s for 8 of the last 11 Boston Marathons, so I wasn't really expecting this in March when I was on my 20 to 24-mile training runs.

It's expected to be one of the top 5 hottest Bostons, so at least I will be there for history!

Now I just have to look at it as a great opportunity to have some fun with running buddies, stay hydrated safely and see how far I can make it.

Yael

@yael

Good Luck Yael! Keep an eye out for the Notorious Kip Litton!

Kip Litton Thread

Good luck Yael!! Hope you handle the heat well. Stay well hydrated. And yes, watch out for Kip Litton. It would be a shame if you got Kipped!!!

Good luck to everybody running Boston! Does anyone know if the race be on TV or available online?

"Watching" it now.

www.runnersworld.com/cda/microsite/article/0,8029,....

First 2 5K splits for Yael - 27:01 & 27:26

Coach Sanderson from Stockton went thru 20k with his first 4-5k splits being 18:27-18:26-18:11-18:45 and just went thru the 1/2 at 1:17:51. The temperature is over 80 degrees though now, we will see how they do as it continues to rise.

KC Smoke runner Aaron Hohn had a great race to finish 25th in 2:31:09.

@humansvillexc
2:42 for Sanderson. Not bad for having a swollen knee for a week prior and not running at all during that time either.

Great work!

@TheInformant
Daniel Hay, Parkview Viking coach, won the 50-54 year old age group with a 2:44...very nice...
Felt bad for T.Jay...bad timing with an inflamed and swollen knee.
The temperatures much have been brutal out there today.