Despite the torrential downpour, the Boston Marathon went on as planned this morning and for the first time since 1985, an American woman won the race. Desiree Linden, a two-time Olympian, finished the race in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 54 seconds which was more than four minutes better than second-place finisher Sarah Sellers.
According to ESPN, Linden's time was the slowest time for a women's winner since 1978... but a win is a win.
"It's supposed to be hard," said Linden, who wiped the spray of rain from her eyes as she made her way down Boylston Street alone. "It's good to get it done."
Linden's time was partly due to the nasty weather, but also a result of her stopping with teammate Shalane Flanagan early in the race when she used a restroom on the track, according to USA Today.
"Honestly at mile 2, 3, 4 I didn't feel like I was gonna even make it to the finish line," Linden said, via Roxanna Scott of USA Today. "I told her [Flanagan] in the race, I said if there's anything I can do to help you out, let me know because I might just drop out.
"When you work together, you never know what's going to happen," Linden said. "Helping her helped me and kind of got my legs back from there."
The men's race was won by Yuki Kawauchi, who passed defending champion Geoffrey Kirui in Kenmore Square to become the first Japanese runner to win the Boston Marathon since 1987. Kawauchi finished with a time of 2:15:58 to lead the field of 30,000 runners.
https://twitter.com/_/status/985914929705377792
