I joined a bunch of friends at a local sports bar to watch the Marathon this morning.  Despite what appeared to be fairly windy conditions, it seemed that both Ritz and Desi led for long portions of the race.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I had heard they expected a headwind.  Was that the case?  (We didn't have sound).  If so, why would they lead for so long?  Why not tuck back on occasion and let someone else do the work?  I never raced competitively so what am I missing here?

There wa a headwind. They mentioned it when they were comparing the wheel chair times with last year's times. For awhile, it looked like the women were running in the same formstion that geese use when flying south. The leader changes during flight.

I think they didn't get headwind until the Newton Fire Station, which is where people started getting dropped.

 

Yes.

Great race, Jay!!!! Congrats!

I didn't know if anyone could hear the commentary and if the commentators said anything about it.  I'm always interested to learn about race tactics but in this case, I don't have a clue.

And congrats Jay.  Excellent race dude.  Excellent.

From what the commentators said, it didn't seem like the wind was a factor until the leaders reached the Newton Hills.

Ahhh.  OK.  We couldn't hear anything from the commentators and all of us were wondering why Desi and Ritz were out front given what we'd heard about the wind from the forecasts.

Desi answers some of the questions here. She acknowledges that some may question her tactics but I like her answers:

http://www.runnersworld.com/boston-marathon/desiree-linden-top-american-woman-at-boston-marathon

I am a huge fan of hers. I love how she was a relative unknown in college and is now arguably the best U.S. female marathoner out there right now.

She had a plan and went after it. I applaud that. It was clear she didn't have the speed at the end to match the breakaway and I wonder how much of that was because she was setting the pace most of the way. But I think this quote tells the tale:

“[Sometimes] someone would creep up on my shoulder and I thought, they’re ready to pick it up, and I would tuck in [to the pack] and [the pace] would slow right back down, so I would go back to work on the front,” Linden said. “I couldn’t let [the pace] get too soft. The more people that are in there late, the further back I’m going to finish. So if that means me doing a little bit more work on the front, I was comfortable with that.”

I doubt Desi could have run much faster that day under any other strategy. I liked her answers after also. She is my hope to medal next year. Shalane may have peaked, but I don't think Desi has.

I was disappointed that Amy Hastings dropped. She trains in RI mostly so was curious how Boston would be for her.