What did you do yesterday? I bet no matter how awesome or exciting it was, it wasn’t as awesome and exciting as what Robert Cheruiyot did. Cheruiyot ran the Boston Marathon and won, becoming the first Kenyan man to win the Boston Marathon four times:

All of Robert Cheruiyot’s woes “” the poverty of his youth, the near exile by his family, the tribal wars that led him to leave his training base in Kenya in January and February for five weeks “” were pushed aside Monday when he made history.

Since he comes from a nation rich in elite marathon runners, Cheruiyot said he hoped this performance would win him a berth on the Kenyan Olympic team. The Kenyans seem ready to give two of their three berths to Martin Lel and Sammy Wanjiru, who finished first and second in the London Marathon on April 13.

“If I get a chance,” Cheruiyot said of his Olympic chances, “I will produce a good race.” [The New York Times]

On the ladies end of things, it was a close close close race.

There was no such breathing room for the winner of the women’s race “” the closest women’s finish ever here. For the last seven miles, 22-year-old Dire Tune of Ethiopia and 25-year-old Alevtina Biktimirova of Russia were together at the front. Tune almost always ran a stride behind Biktimirova until the last mile, when the sparring began.

Biktimirova picked up the pace. Tune responded. Tune took off. Biktimirova responded. With 150 meters left, Tune spurted again, and this time Biktimirova did not respond. Tune won by two seconds “” 2:25:25 to 2:25:27 “” a distance of maybe 10 meters. The previous closest finish was two years ago, when Rita Jeptoo finished 10 seconds ahead of Jelena Prokopcuka. [The New York Times]

I personally find marathons to be pretty damn inspiring! I went and watched for my pal Annie when she ran the NY Marathon (she was also running the Boston today - woo hoo) and it made me want to run run run.

Watch the video I made for Annie below, along with a clip of the intense end of the women’s race. And because running isn’t only good for the runner, it’s often good for lost of various causes that use running as a charity event to learn about the Boston Marathon Charity Program.