The (second- or third-) best thing about the Boston Marathon is the runners’ names.
And today, they helped us discover the secret to placing high on Boylston Street.
No, it’s not training. Or running fast. Or eating right the day before.
It’s alliteration.
A full 50 percent of the six top-three finishers (three men, three women) in today’s race have alliterative names. There’s Desiree Davila, the American woman who came in second, Moses Mosop, the male Kenyan runner-up, and Gebregziabher Gebremariam, the Ethiopian who came in third in the men’s race.
(That last one? Instant classic.)
There’s no alliteration anywhere in the rest of either top 10. So it stands to reason that, if you’re an elite runner named Adam Adams or Jack Jackson, you’re going to end up on the Boston Marathon podium.
Science!
