Episode 67: Meb's guide to beating Boston

Boston is almost upon us, and we’re kicking off a stellar double header with a trip to the hallowed roads from Hopkinton to Boylston Street!

We have the lowdown on defending champions in Hellen Obiri and Sisay Lemma, Catherine Debrunner’s potential course record clean-sweep, and former Boston Champion Meb Keflezighi shares his top tips for taking on the Boston course.

We also welcome AbbottWMM's very own Stewart Haynes to the show, AKA Statman Stew, to unload a truck full of numbers about the Six Star Hopefuls heading for Boston.

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‍In this episode of Marathon Talk:
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0:00 - Martin & Deena catch up on their spring motivations, and preparations for Boston & London‍

5:00 - We round up the big stories ahead of Boston, from the defending champions and a potential clean sweep of course records, to Marcel Hug’s 8th possible win at Boston‍

13:35 - Statman Stew joins us for some exclusive statistics for the Boston race, including the 1,585 6 Star hopefuls, 3 birthday runners, and 2 new countries to give us first-time Six Star Finishers‍

24:45 - ‘Marathon Meb’ recounts his experience with the Boston course, and shares his top tips on how you can make your way to Boyleston Street running your very best‍

55:05 - Our notes from the community this week are predictions of their finish times in Boston - we wish them luck, and promise a prize to whoever is closest to their predicted time

Episode highlights

“The 4th fastest man in history, Sisay Lemma, is back to defend his title - the 2022 and 2023 champion Evans Chebet will be his main challenger.” - 5:15 - Martin Yelling

“Eliud Kipchoge showed that he can run really fast, but didn’t really master the Boston course, so knowledge does come into play a lot.” - 7:45 - Deena Kastor

“In Boston last year we had 1,052 athletes receive their Six Star Medal. In a week’s time we’ll have 1,585 runners doing the same, so that’s quite the increase over last year.” - 13:45 - Statman Stew

“90% of the work is physical, and 10% is mental in your training and preparation. In the last two weeks it flips. There’s little you can do to help in the last two weeks, but many things that can ruin it.” - 35:25 - Meb Keflezighi

“Boston’s tough, and having done the course helps. For those who haven’t run it, patience is a virtue and Boston is a test of that.” - 37:30 - Meb Keflezighi

“The camaraderie of running is amazing. We’re so fortunate how unifying running is, it’s a universal language.” - 47:10 - Meb Keflezighi