Burfoot at the finish
The number: 50
That’s the number of years between Amby Burfoot’s Boston Marathon win in 1968 and his finish today, in a downpour, in 4:53:22.
Burfoot becomes the fourth marathon champion to return and complete the race 50 years after their victory.
In a post-race interview, Burfoot said that, “It took 50 years to get here and 5 hours today but it was worth every year and every minute.”
Amby ran with a group of friends using a 4 minute run/1 minute walk plan, stopping just before the finish to walk in while contemplating the memory of those killed and injured at the 2013 marathon.
Here’s a link to the GPS trace for the run (note that the heartrate and cadence data are the author’s).
