BOSTON MARATHON 2025 -- and the WINNER is......

[00:00:08] Hello and welcome everybody! My name is Letty, I host the Marathon Running Podcast and this YouTube channel and I'm an absolute running nerd. I am here in Boston and I'm not even running the race. I'm literally here to spectate and do media stuff. I'm very excited about this year's Boston Field and so I wanted to share a few of my thoughts just because I always found that when before I got nerdy about running, I always found that it was difficult for me to figure out who is who when it comes to running.

[00:00:38] And now that I do know a lot of the names and I've been following them for a while, I want to share that with you guys so you know who to look out for when you're watching the marathon on ESPN or your local news or wherever you do it. So let's start with the women's field. I have my computer right here next to me with me so I can hopefully not mispronounce the names and tell you some of the data.

[00:00:58] So let's start with the women's field. The fastest woman in the field is Amane Berriso. She's from Ethiopia. Her PR is a 2.14.58 which she got in 2022 in Valencia which is a very flat race. She is a great contender and along with her, there is another person that is going to do a debut at the Boston Marathon and she ran a 2.16 in Amsterdam very recently last year in 2024.

[00:01:27] And that is Yelamzerf Yehula which I'm really sorry if I'm mispronouncing the name also from Ethiopia. So those two contenders are the two fastest in the field. Let's talk about some other people with fast numbers. Kiera D'Amato, we know she ran a 2.19 in Houston in 2022. She's going to be running this. Also from the Americans, we have Emma Bates who is also a favorite, who is also very nice.

[00:01:53] They're all really nice so it's really hard to say who's going to win because you want all of them to win because they're all nice. But Emma Bates PR is currently a 2.22 at the Boston course and I keep saying which courses they run their PRs on because I think that's super important. You can't compare Chicago with a course like Boston, right? Everybody knows that world records are not set, well they can't be set in Boston but they also physically probably can't be set just because it's such a difficult course.

[00:02:20] It's a net downhill but there's tons of hills including the Heartbreak Hills that you guys have heard about. But anyway, let me talk about some other contenders from the United States. We have Sarah Hall. Sarah Hall ran a 2.20.32 in Chandler in 2020 which that is really fast. I know she ran really well in Valencia. I don't have the number that she did when she ran that last time but I know she's really strong.

[00:02:44] I talked to her at the press conference and she was feeling strong and she looks amazing so hopefully it'll be a good day for her as well. We have the 2024 winner Helen Abiri. She's also going to be there and she ran a 2.21 in the Boston course last year and that was great. Jess Linden is going to be running this course I think she said for the 12th time and her PR was a 2.22 in Boston in 2011.

[00:03:13] And then obviously we all know that she was the one that endured the reign and everything most in 2018 and ended up winning that race even though it was very far from her PR. So that is good. I also want to mention that Dakota Lindworm or now Dakota Popane, she got married, changed her last name, she's going to be running this race and she did amazing. She did top 10 at the Paris Olympic Marathon last year, which we know that course is even more hillier than Boston.

[00:03:41] So she's a great contender for this race. And then I want to talk about Jess McLean. Jess McLean did not make it to the Olympics. She missed her spot. She came in fourth at the Olympic Trials in Orlando last year with a 2.25 and she was really trained well to be running as a backup in case they needed it at the Olympics. She didn't run, but I hear wonderful stories about how strong she is and hopefully it'll be a good day for her as well. Obviously there's thousands of other runners, so I can't mention all of them.

[00:04:11] And these are the contenders. Do I have a personal favorite? I really don't. I really like just nice people and all of them seem to be really nice. Also Paula Radcliffe is coming. She's obviously not going to go for a win. She's going for her sixth star and she's been all over town and we've had a lot of Paula Radcliffe sightings. And I'm going to be excited to see how she does at this race because I guess she was disappointed with her Tokyo results. But that's it for the women. Let's move on to the men's race.

[00:04:37] For the men, we have Cissé Lemma who won the marathon in Boston last year. His personal best is a 2.0.1.48 which he got in Valencia, which is really, really fast. So he did well in Boston and Valencia, so we know he can handle both courses flat and not flat. So he's a great contender. And then personal friends of mine, Evans Chabat, who we visited in Kenya, he's already won this race two times.

[00:05:02] Hopefully he will podium as well. His PR is a 2.03, also in Valencia. So take notes if you don't get into the majors, maybe you want to try Valencia. It seems to be a really popular and flat course and great for PRs. John Courier is also running this marathon. He is a 2.02 runner, the Chicago winner of last year, and his training went really well. And if John Courier wins, then it'll be the first time in history that two brothers won the Boston Marathon

[00:05:30] because his brother Wesley also won the Boston Marathon. I don't remember what year, but that would be kind of cool to see as well. Then Ciprian Coutout, also from the two running club, which is the same running club as Evans Chabat. He is going to be there and he's a 2.03 runner. His PR was achieved in Berlin and that was last year. So, you know, he's really strong. His training went well. And hopefully he will podium too. I kind of want all of them to podium, which that's not going to happen.

[00:05:58] But it would be cool if they all could hold hands and cross the finish line together. That would be awesome. But let's keep talking about who else is going to be there from the Americans. We're going to have Connor Mance, who recently set the American record for the half marathon. And his personal best is still that 2.07.45, I believe, that he did when he ran the Chicago Marathon in 2023. Actually, it was a 2.07.47.

[00:06:26] And then Clayton Young, his training partner, who came in at a 2.08 flat. And hopefully they will have great races. They both had great training cycles and feel very confident about this race. Other favorites are CJ Albertson. CJ Albertson's is not very off their time. CJ Albertson's PR is a 2.08.17. So he's only 17 seconds slower. And I know he is a beast.

[00:06:53] He does crazy training on treadmills at his house at an incline with heat and everything. So he's a very strong person to watch out for. Zach Panning, the guy that also ran the Olympic trials with Clayton Young and Connor Mance, who ended up dropping back just a little bit. He is a very strong person as well. It would be great to see him up there as well. His personal best is a 2.09.16, also achieved in Chicago. And then Haimanot Alou from Ethiopia.

[00:07:19] His personal best is a 2.04, also achieved in Valencia. Valencia is the place to go. He's going to be there. So it's going to be a super exciting field. So my favorite picks for this race are going to be John Carrere and Evans Chabat and Cyprian Coutoude, just because I think they are all so lovely. But then also Connor Mance and Clayton Young would be great to see. They all would be, again, great to see because they're all really, really nice.

[00:07:44] Hopefully you guys are taking notes of what their jerseys are going to look like so you can recognize them as they fly by you. Cheer them on. And let's see what happens on Monday. I'm very excited. If you like this type of content, don't forget to subscribe. And until next time, we'll probably have a video of the winners coming up. So if you want to see that, you can find it here. Thank you so much. And until next time.