Resetting the Clock at Boston

One of the aspects that has been sort of stuck in my mind about the Marathon Bombings is, why is the clock at the widely cited 4:09:43 at 2:49 PM? I finally had a moment to sit down with the race logistics, and it HAS to be that they reset the finish line clock at various times based on the progress of each of the groups - mobility-impaired, womens elite, mens elite/Wave 1, then Wave 2, and finally Wave 3.

Did anyone realize that they do that? Is that common in other wave start races?

I will say, it messed me up on Race Day. Vivian's husband Brian was trying to find out if anyone had heard from her or seen her, through FB. I can only imagine how anxious that time was for him!

I was trying to piece the events together, real time, amidst all the confusion. I didn't know the exact time the bomb went off, but I assumed - wrongly - that it was 4:09:43 after the official 10:00 start based on the video. I knew that Vivian would have started somewhere between 10:30 and 10:40 and had a projected finish of 4:10ish, so I was assuring Brian that she had to be 30 - 40 minutes out. We all know now, of course, that she wasn't. I felt so badly that, in trying to help, I had given Brian misinformation. Thank God it turned out to be inconsequential.

It took me awhile to figure this out also. At first I thought I had gone through 25 minutes before the bombings. But it didn't feel that way. I thought I had taken a lot longer in the walk through finish and getting my drop bag and walking with Connie and Hannah to the T. Since I had figured that the clock time at the finish had been changed to the wave 2 start when I finished, it stood to reason that it had been changed again for wave 3. Thus, I went through 45 minutes before the bombings.
I don't remember this being done at other races, but then again, I don't run a lot of the larger races. Most of mine have been small to medium sized races with the exception of Boston and maybe a few others over the years.

I wondered the same thing. I had taken quite a long time by the gear bus and almost got scooped up by a wheel chair due to a badly cramping right calf that I was finally able to calm down. Then it took me a very long time to get to the Hilton Back bay to meet John. People started flooding into the lobby right after with dazed looks on their faces. I was trying to figure out the time line for quite a while later on. I was actually done for about one and a half hour instead of 45min.

I was in the last corral of Wave 2 last year, and this year I was in the same corral as Vivian (hence why I was right there as well). I noticed the "Wave 2" and "Wave 3" clocks last year as it actually messed me up coming to the finish last year. This is why this year, I could see the clock and knew it was our Wave 3 clock.

Interestingly enough, I have an old teammate that deferred last year and due to that was in Wave 2 this year. She ran an official time of 4:42 and finished. I would have finished 30 min faster than her and obviously was almost there and did not. I can see why the BAA is having such a dilemma in trying to figure out what to do with us. Simply extrapolating my time would be incorrect as I stop to hug my daughter and high five her friends after crossing the 40K mark, and I veered to the left to wave at my inlaws at the turn onto Hereford. Like I said before, I would like my metal and if they wish to assign me a time, that is fine, but just list it with an asterick. Honestly, I feel for them, and I probably never would have in the past.

And VW, please stick around.

I, too, found it odd about the 4:09:43. I was tracking our runners and was expecting that clock to be the original time clock. I didn't make the connection that Vivian, Michele and Kath were being timed under that clock until Vivian wrote that she saw the first explosion.

I wrongly presumed the ladies were way behind the 4:09:43 clock.