Thought #1: He's going for a Six Star finish!

8,143 people have run all six Abbott World Marathon Majors, but no able-bodies athlete has won them all!

That is the challenge laid out to Eliud Kipchoge as he looks to cement his place as the greatest marathon runner in history. While never one to publicly pronounce all his plans, (we all remember his famous quote; "I chase one rabbit at a time. I only focus on my next race.") Kipchoge has made no secret of his dream to claim a Six Star medal by the end of his career.

If he is to realise that ambition, we'll have to figure out a way to suitably commemorate the occasion. If anyone has any suggestions, our DMs are always open.

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Thought #2: That's a strong field, this might not be the sure thing we think it is!

While the announcement of the Kipchoge news will have captured the headlines, a look at the rest of the Boston men's field is very exciting.

Joining the current world record holder at the start line will be not just one, or even two, but THREE former winners of the race! Defending Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto, and two-time victor Lelisa Desisa (2013 and 2015) will be part of an historically deep men’s open division.

It will be the first time all four have competed against each other and will offer an intriguing snapshot of the current standard of men's elite marathon running, but also perhaps give us a glimpse at who may emerge to take Kipchoge's crown when the time comes for him to abdicate his throne.

We have a feeling that the result in Boston may leave us with more questions than answers as we look towards the following 18 months of marathon racing.

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Thought #3: Could he break the record again?

Well, officially it's impossible as since 1990 the Boston Marathon has been ineligible for World Record status. As per the rule set out by World Athletics, "The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance," which isn't the case with Boston's famous point-to-point course.

The second factor that would prohibit an official world record time is the elevation of the Boston course. Despite the presence of many hills throughout the course, the total elevation drop from start to finish is 459 feet (140 meters). This violates another IAAF rule: "The overall decrease in elevation between start and finish shall not exceed an average of one meter per kilometer." Boston’s course changes at an average of around 3.33 meters per kilometer.

But, could Kipchoge at least beat his Berlin time? He famously, and unofficially, has broken the two-hour barrier so could he put in a performance that comes close to going under his 2:01:09 PB? If you look at the winning times of previous winners, they would suggest it's unlikely. The current course record was set in 2011 by Kipchoge's compatriot Geoffrey Mutai with a time of 2:03:02, which represented a personal best for the four-time Major winner and last year's race was won by Evans Chebet with a time of 2:06:51.

We are yet to see Chebet and Kipchoge face off against each other in a Major. Could the presence of each other spur both on to greatness?

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Thought 4: What can he expect in Boston?

The Boston Marathon course is 26.2 miles of open US highway, tracking West to East from the start in Hopkinton all the way into downtown Boston, finishing on Boylston Street, near the Boston Public Library on Copley Square. Crowds line up all along the way, so you're never short of encouragement as you head into the City.

The downhill nature of the early part of the course, as we mentioned in the previous section, means that athletes will often struggle in the second half of the race, however we expect Eliud will be well-prepared for that and shouldn't leave himself with too much to do once he passes the halfway mark in Wellesley.

The final factor that Eliud will have to take into consideration will be the unpredictable New England late spring weather. You don't need to have a very long memory to recall the 2018 race that saw torrential wind and rain cause havoc with athletes' race plans.

Ideally you'd hope for around 45-50 degrees, grey skies, enough moisture in the air to make breathing comfortable and minimize dehydration - and a mild southwesterly breeze to see you home – things can frequently turn out very different. In 2012, the mercury nearly hit 90 degrees, while in 2018 and 2015, driving rain and sleet meant that temperatures barely made it over the mid-40s.

Our advice is to wrap up in something that you can easily discard!

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Thought #5: How much longer can the great man go on for?

Time waits for no man and as Kipchoge approaches his 39th birthday (the same day as the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon, we note), we can't help but ask the question, how much longer can he keep going?

A look at his times suggests that he's only getting faster but, speaking before his win in Berlin back in September, he talked about his dream to complete the hat-trick of Olympic gold medals at the Paris 2024 Games, adding to the gold medals he collected in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

"That’s a very important thing to me," Kipchoge said. "Because I am running to make history. I am running to tell young people that consistency is what we need, for performing at a high level. It's what the world needs. I trust I will be lining up in Paris 2024 and having a lot of energy to run to the gold medal."

Nobody has ever won three Olympic marathon gold medals and at nearly 40 years old, it would represent a remarkable way to bow out of a career at the very top.

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Thought #6: What will be the craziest question he gets asked in the pre-race press conference!

You get the chance to ask the greatest road runner in history one question, do you go for the hard option, pushing for comment on one of the major threats to the sport, or humanity itself? Or do you go for something a little softer?

If it was us, we'd be taking the soft option.  

Maybe he could settle the age old debate that has stumped scholars for generations: do you put the milk in the tea after the water or before?

As he's in Boston, maybe someone could ask him if he understands baseball?

These are the real questions the world wants to hear!