This kickass woman just won the Boston Marathon

While most of us are content to take it easy on a Monday, thousands gathered this morning in the rain and cold to run the 119th Boston Marathon. You know who was likely one of the happiest in the bunch? 30-year-old Caroline Rotich — she won the race for the women!

In just 2:24:55, the Kenyan-born runner crossed the finish line, beating Ethiopian-born runner Mare Dibaba by just four seconds. (Dibaba placed just two spots ahead of Rotich in the 2014 Chicago Marathon.) This is Rotich’s first win in a major race, following a win at 2013’s Prague Marathon, and a fourth place finish in the 2014 Tokyo Marathon.

In an interview with WBZ-TV, Rotich — who attended Japan’s Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School on a sports scholarship and trains in New Mexico — said, “We went to the last sprint and I knew that this was going to be the toughest sprint . . . I was like I have to go for it, give it everything I have.” On the podium she added, “That was the greatest thing I’ve ever felt.”

Rotich was joined at the top by 25-year-old Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa who won this year’s Men’s race in 2:09:17, successfully beating the 2:10:22 it took him to finish and win the 2013 Boston Marathon, a victory marred by that year’s bombings.

The bombing two years ago has not slowed Bostonians down at all and the marathon is more popular than ever with 30,000 showing up for this year’s race. In fact, another INCREDIBLY inspiring runner at this year’s marathon was Rebekah Gregory. Rebekah was running in the marathon two years ago when the bombs went off. Due to injuries sustained, she lost her leg. But Rebekah did not let that keep her down and out, she was back in the race this year to complete the last 3.5 miles of the marathon on her new prosthetic leg.

Hats off to these incredible women (and all the others who ran) and congrats on the big day!

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