Boston 2018: The Civil Servant Who Won in a Storm

01A stormy Monday

That day the weather is a punishment: driving rain, gusts up to 32 mph and temperatures around 2°C, according to the Associated Press. The coldest start in thirty years, AFP adds. The race is also run five years after the 2013 attacks at the finish line, which killed three people and injured hundreds.

02The high school office

Yuki Kawauchi, 31, is a civil servant: an office clerk at Kuki high school, in Saitama Prefecture. No coach, and he trains in his spare time, AFP stresses. No sponsor either: he wants to keep his job, CBS Boston reports. In 2017 he ran 12 marathons, six times what a typical elite runner does, according to the AP. He holds the Guinness-recognized record for the most marathons run in under 2:20.

He knows the cold: on January 1, he won the New Year's marathon in Marshfield, Massachusetts, with the start at -17°C (1°F).

03A race that falls apart

Kawauchi starts fast, too fast: a first mile in 4:37. The pack reels him in, then defending champion Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya breaks away on the Newton hills, Canadian Running recounts. But in the last mile, at Kenmore Square, the Japanese runner catches him and drops him.

He finishes in 2:15:58, against 2:18:23 for Kirui, a 2 min 25 s lead. It is the slowest winning time since 1976.

04The greatest day

“This is the greatest day of my life,” he says, according to AFP. And about the weather: “For me, these are the best conditions possible.” He pockets $150,000, according to the AP.

It is Japan's first win in Boston since 1987, the year he was born. Toshihiko Seko, who won in 1981 and 1987, calls it “a tremendous achievement.”

05The same day, in the women's race

In the women's race, Desiree Linden wins in 2:39:54, more than four minutes ahead of Sarah Sellers. She is the first American to win since Lisa Larsen Weidenbach in 1985. It is also the slowest winning time for a woman since 1978. “It was comical how slow you were going, and how far you still had to go,” she tells the AP.

Her race nearly ended early, though: in the first miles she thinks about dropping out. She even tells Shalane Flanagan, offering to help her. When Flanagan stops for a bathroom break, Linden slows down and turns around to help her get back to the lead group. She will end up flying.