BOSTON – The winds weren't in his favor. But that didn't keep Turner Wiley from racing to a phenomenal finish in his first-ever Boston Marathon.
 
The 2016 Seattle Pacific graduate was 18th across the line on Monday in the 127th annual Boston race, the world's most famous marathon. Wiley completed his 26 miles, 385 yards in 2 hours, 13 minutes and 57 seconds.
 
Along with being 18th overall, Wiley was the seventh American runner to reach the finish line.

 

"It was a tough course and tough conditions today," Wiley said. "It was straight headwinds the entire way. There's going to be wind point to point, but you're locked into whatever the weather is going to be.
 
Wiley figured out very early in the race that he wouldn't be in the same 2:11-2:12 range that he was in last October's Chicago Marathon.
 
"When the gun went off, I felt the wind the entire way – and this was not a gentle breeze. This was a solid wind," Wiley said. "I threw time out the window around Mile 4, and said, 'Let's just have fun and race and enjoy the experience.'"
 
Wiley has run half a dozen marathons, including the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials. But Monday's Boston experience was unlike any of those others.
 
"This is probably the most fun I've had in a marathon," he said. "The crowds were the most electric I've ever had. You're 10 miles into the race and people are there three deep and they're just screaming. The energy was amazing."
 
Boston is famous for its hills, especially Heartbreak Hill around Mile 21.
 
"My goal was to try to stay as relaxed as possible until the Newton Hills," Wiley said. "Right about after Mile 15, I hit a pretty significant downhill, and the moment you get to the bottom is the start of those four hills, and they're interesting. The incline gets steeper the more you get into it, but the length gets shorter.
 
"Once you crash the top of Heartbreak, it's all technically downhill from there. I really wanted to get to the hills and feel strong, and I did," Wiley added. "The only thing I didn't account for was the downhill part took a toll on the legs."
 
His finishing place on Monday was within the range that Wiley had in mind. He was in 21^st place heading into the final mile, then clocked a 5:06 to move up three spots.
 
"In the last two Chicagos, I was the ninth American in 2021 and then in 2022 was the sixth American," Wiley said. "So I definitely wanted to stay in the top 10 Americans, and was hoping to be in the top 20 (overall), as well."
 
 

Wiley, now 30, lives in Issaquah, just east of Seattle in the Cascade foothills, and works in business operations of the urgent care unit art Seattle Children's Hospital. He already has qualified for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, set for next Feb. 3 in Orlando
 
He still owns the SPU record for 10,000 meters, 30:53.09 in April of 2016.
 
"Marathon is clearly my event," Wiley said. "It's fun to know that like today, I went through 10K faster than any college 10K I ever ran.
 
"So it's fun to continue to grow in it."
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- The winner on Monday was Evans Chebet of Kenya in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 54 seconds. He was 10 seconds ahead of Gabriel Geay from Tanzania in 2:06:04.
-- The first American was Scott Fauble, of Golden, Colorado. He was seventh overall in 2:09:44.
-- The women's winner was Helen Obiri of Kenya in 2:21:38. She was 12 seconds ahead of runner-up Amane Beriso of Ethiopia in 2:21:50.
-- The first American finisher was Emma Bates of Elk River, Minnesota. She ran fifth overall in 2:22:10.