To say 2007 was not the best year for the marathon here in the U.S. would certainly be an understatement. The sport experienced actual and near weather disasters (a deadly heat wave in Chicago and a near miss Nor’easter in Boston). In the New York Marathon in November, a minor timing malfunction caused some runners to receive incorrect finishing times. A month later in the massive Honolulu Marathon, a similar problem was far more widespread, as nearly 3,500 runners’ times were missing, due to glitches in the use of a new timing technique that employed electronic tags on runners’ race numbers, in lieu of the popular “chips” traditionally used in marathons.

Finally, tragedy visited the most anticipated and visible marathon in all of 2007, as world-class runner Ryan Shay succumbed to a heart-related incident at the men’s Olympic Marathon Team Trials in New York City in November, leaving a tragic stain on what was otherwise a banner day for U.S. marathon running and emerging star Ryan Hall. Such was the luck of the sport in 2007, when even the most promising news was accompanied by a dark cloud.