Runman: Runner's Boston quest - McCosham leads P.E.I. contingent into the famous marathon

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Runner's Boston quest - McCosham leads P.E.I. contingent into the famous marathon

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=243365&sc=99

Runner's Boston quest
McCosham leads P.E.I. contingent into the famous marathon

CHARLES REID
The Guardian

For some the 113th Boston Marathon on Monday is more than a challenge, it’s a quest.

Leo McCosham fits that description.

“I’ve been running hard 80 to 100 miles per week on the hills from Cornwall to DeSable and back,” said McCosham. “I did not run all winter to jog Boston.”

He is one of 27 Islanders running the marathon proper (42-kilometres) and five more in the five-kilometre run.

The Charlottetown native is P.E.I.’s top qualifier after a fourth-place finish, time in two hours, 46 minutes and 58 seconds, at the Island Marathon in October.

His Boston jersey number is 1,444, which means he starts 444th in the first corral in the first wave of 14,000 runners.

The next 14,000 runners start in a second wave.

It also means 443 people qualified with faster times, so McCosham, who leaves today for Boston, has no illusions about winning in his third straight appearance.

“There’s an old runner’s saying — trust your training. You have to trust your training, run it as a race and see what happens at the end,” said McCosham, who won the Marathon-by-the-Sea in Saint John, N.B., in September in a time of 2:51.

The former arm wrestler said the course in Boston has relatively easy downhill start, but its many small ups and downs wear on legs and can show up later in the race around the 20-mile mark — and the dreaded Heartbreak Hill at 21 miles.

It’s where many fatigued runners “hit the wall” as energy stores in the legs are used up.

The back half of the course is largely uphill with its own peaks and valleys, but the front half does most of the damage.

“The old saying is if you don’t train for Boston, Boston will destroy you,” he said. “(I think the) secret is the 80 to 100 miles of pounding I've given my legs.”

Maybe the 45-year-old is on to something.

His previous finishes in Boston were 2:55:13 (729th overall) last year and 3:05 in 2007. This year he’s hoping to crack 2:45.

The top 15 finishers in the men’s and women’s divisions earn equal prize money race starting at $150,000 for the winner, $75,000 for second, $40,000 for third and descending to $1,500 for 15th place.

It’s not much, at least out of the top three, especially with hotel rooms roughly $250 to $900 per night.

Most runners complete the marathon off the money list so Boston’s done for the love of running.

But a few perks might be found along the way — hobnobbing with well-known personalities is one.

“I ran with (Tour de France cyclist) Lance Armstrong for 20 kilometres last year,” said McCosham, who won the P.E.I. Road Runners Club’s male roadrunner of the year award.

The top three Island Marathon finishers, Mike MacKinnon, Stanley Chaisson and Scott Clark, are not running in Boston.

(creid@theguardian.pe.ca)

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Competitors from P.E.I. entered in the 2009 Boston Marathon on Monday (by bib number starting position, subject to change):

MARATHON

Women

14758 - Beverley Walsh, 47, Charlottetown

16198 - Anne MacLaurin, 36, Miscouche

16686 - Linda MacIsaac-Gallant, 40, Summerside

16976 - Jackie Chaisson, 38, Charlottetown

17191 - Natalie Mitton, 36, Stratford

17862 - Kimberley Bailey, 43, Cornwall