It was the day to set records for the champion who was two days away from his 39th birthday. Meb Keflezighi became the first American man in 30 years winning the race in 2:08:36 breaking his own best record. Last time it was Greg Meyer in 1983 who took the championship trophy to America.

The race was cancelled last year due to a terrorist attack which killed 3 people. A total of 36,000 participated in the race following a moment of silence at the starting line. With the names of the murdered written on his runner’s bib, he raced to victory becoming a living symbol of resilience from the dark days of terror.

With tears in his eyes Keflezighi said

“It was not about me. It was about Boston Strong. When the bomb exploded, every day since I’ve wanted to come back and win it.”

He was well ahead by 11 seconds of Kenya’s Wilson Chebet when finished the race chanting U.S.A. With this the 39 years old Olympic silver medalist became the oldest man to win the event since 1930, when 40-year old Clarence deMar took first place.