This is the ONLY Boston Marathon preview you need to read! Trust me, J.T. Service has captured the excitement and fun of the marathon and if you do not laugh until you cry, then, check your pulse as you are not alive.

I am building a graven image of J.T. Service now. He wrote the column I have wanted to write for some time.

Nice job, J.T. !

Nic Arciniaga is J.T.’s athlete, and he should win, per J.T.! Photo by PhotoRun.net

The Boston Marathon Preview

by J.T. Service, @soulfocussports
The Boston Marathon is this Monday and J.T. Service is here with the only preview you need to read, or at least the one with the most jokes.

Okay, maybe it’s not THE Boston Marathon preview, but it’s certainly our Boston Marathon preview. In our view, this is the most important marathon in the world. Not the most runners, not the fastest course, nor the media center of NYC, but it’s the most seeped in tradition. There are so many layers to the Boston Marathon that it’s truly an American sporting event, not just a running one. There are the elite athletes, the other 25,000 that think they are, it’s Patriots’ Day without football, terrorists are getting convicted, endurance sports brands all make the pilgrimage to prove their relevance, and now Americans are winning the race again, and frankly East Africans are not going to take it much longer. It’s like a party and here is the only preview you’ll need.

Men’s Preview

First off, Nick Arciniaga is going to win. Well, maybe. Full disclosure: I represent Nick so I think I have to say that. I skipped that day in law school when they were covering fiduciary duty, but now I think we’re good on the legal front. For real though, he could win. After a 39-year-old won last year I suppose anything can happen. Nick is fit, took 9th at NYC and was overshadowed in a strong 7th place Boston finish a year ago. Plus, when he wins I’m pretty sure Kevin Plank will put us on some private plane headed to some NBA arena to watch Steph Curry shoot basketballs. So I’m really pulling for Nick here. However, there are other contenders that at least deserve a mention.

The East Africans. They are not happy. All of them, not happy.

Do you really believe everything is hunky dory amongst elite runners from different countries and continents? There is distrust and there is trash talking and frankly East Africans have owned the runners from the West. Yes, everyone is nice in the interviews, on panels and at the finish line. Shoot, Mo and Galen probably are really good friends because Salazar makes them play paddy cake, but when shoe rubber meets the road the Africans usually win. Now this Meb character comes in and steals their money. Oh no you didn’t girlfriend. Well, yes he did.

To read the rest of this preview of Boston, just click here! http://www.representrunning.com/the-boston-marathon-preview/

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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