Hussein's Disappointment Was the Greatest of All

With all the stories of victory and disappointment from yesterday's race, nothing was as dramatic as what happened to Ethiopian Ibraim Hussein, the winner of the 1988 Boston Marathon who was in solid position yesterday to challenge for the victory again.

I was at the First Aid Station at the 21-mile mark. We eagerly watched Gelindo Bordin cruise by in the lead, followed closely by Juma Ikangaa.

Ten minutes passed and about seven more runners. Where was Hussein? Where was #2?

Moments later, he stumbled into our station saying, "I would like some First Aid please."

He sat on a cot and buried his head in his hands while we nursed his sore leg and blood blisters on his feet. He had been in the leading pack for the first 20 miles.

"My Achilles tendon hurt me from the beginning," Hussein said, "and halfway up the hill [Heartbreak Hill], I thought I heard it snap."

Hussein spent the rest of the race hiding from the press in the Red Cross van. As he helped me get out a blanket for another runner at the station I asked him how he was.

He smiled and said he felt better. "It is still painful, though," he said. Nobody's disappointment can compare to his.