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(coolrunning.com)
An overnight downpour had eased to a light, chilly rain by the time 3,082 hardy runners took to the starting line of the fifth annual B.A.A. Half Marathon, with a flock of Canada geese providing a flyover befitting the Emerald Necklace course just as Mayor Tom Menino – the official starter – was offering a little coaching.
“Don’t get wet,” he advised the runners as they waited for the 8 a.m. starting horn. “Run through the raindrops.”
Running fastest through those raindrops was Celedonio Rodriguez, a three-time Division II national champion out of Adams State College, who shocked a world-class field when he ran away from them early and fearlessly to win in a personal best 1 hour, 4 minutes and 9 seconds. Rodriguez was born in Mexico, but grew up in the United States before starring at Adams State in Alamosa, Colo., where he still lives and trains. This was his first victory as a professional -- and his first as an American citizen, which he became just two weeks ago.
On the women’s side, Nataliya Berkut of Ukraine finally pulled away from American Jen Rhines just past the 10-mile mark for victory in 1:12:21. Berkut represented her country in the 2004 Olympics and is the national record-holder at both 5000 and 10,000 meters. Rhines, a two-time U.S. Olympian, is also the reigning U.S. 15K road champion.
Although few of the elite athletes cited the chilly and rainy conditions as affecting their races, Kenya’s Samuel Ndereba, runner-up in 1:04:21, was shivering afterward, his hand shaking as he tried to steady a hot drink. The brother of four-time Boston Marathon winner Catherine, the ever-cheerful Ndereba said the weather was among the worst in which he’s ever raced. His huge smile, however, never flickered.
It was a smile reflected on the faces of many of the 3,072 official finishers, happy to have gotten out of bed during a rainstorm to make their way along Park Drive, past Jamaica Pond, into the Franklin Park Zoo and then back to the welcome – and by now dry – finish line
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