Published April 15, 2011

The 2009 Boston Marathon men's leaders jet past cheering crowds. (www.ChristopherSPenn.com/Flickr)

Thousands of runners are flocking to Boston for Monday’s 115th running of the Boston Marathon.

On the men’s side, Kenyan Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot is back to try to defend the title he won in course-record time last April, but he’ll be challenged by a deep, fast field.

Cheruiyot ran 2:05:52 last year, but fellow Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai should challenge him this year. Mutai ran a 2:04:55 in Rotterdam last year, the second fasted marathon time in the world in 2010.

Ryan Hall will try again to break the long American drought in the race. Hall finished fourth last year and third in 2009, and says he is obsessed with winning the Boston Marathon. The last American winner on the men’s side was Greg Meyer in 1983. The race also features newcomers this year, most notably Olympians Alistair Cragg of Ireland and Moses Mosop of Kenya.

The women’s race has been decided by three seconds or less the last three years. Ethiopia’s Teyba Erkesso won the 2010 race and is back to defend her title against two other past champions, Dire Tune of Ethiopia and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya. Ndereba is a four-time winner.

Kara Goucher carries the American hope on the women’s side. Goucher finished third in 2009, but took last year off while she was pregnant.

“My return to running has gone very well,” said Goucher, who gave birth to a son in September 2010. “I can’t think of a better place than Boston to pick up where I left off. The 2009 Boston Marathon stands as the highlight of my career. I wished I could have won, but I did the best I could and Boston embraced me for that.”

Another woman to watch is former Providence College star Kim Smith, an Olympian from New Zealand who will be running Boston for the first time.

A sentimental favorite is Joan Benoit Samuelson, a two-time Boston winner. She hasn’t run the race since 1983, but the 53-year-old Maine native has been enjoying a late-career resurgence after her performance in the 2008 Olympic Trials race, which was also held in Boston. Samuelson needs to run 2:46 or better to qualify for the trials again.

Record-breaking South African Ernst Van Dyk is aiming for his 10th Boston win in the men’s wheelchair race, and Japan’s Wakado Tscuhida could win her fifth straight.

This weekend, the Boston Athletic Association will honor several past champions of the race, including American Jean Driscoll, who won the women’s wheelchair race eight times. She held the record for most Boston wins until last year, when it was shattered by Van Dyk.

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of years since Joan Benoit Samuelson competed in the Boston Marathon.

Published April 14, 2011

Many bikers already use Mass. Ave. to cross the city. (David Salafia/Flickr)

The City of Boston is considering building a bike lane on Massachusetts Avenue in the heart of Boston, stretching from Symphony to the Mass Ave. Bridge. Sounds great, right? There is a small catch.

Building a bike lane on the already-crowded roadway would require the elimination of either parking or a travel lane. That’s sure to be controversial.

The Boston Cyclists Union, a bike advocacy group, is campaigning for the creation of the bike lane and plans to show up in force at a public meeting on the plan tonight.

“Cyclists are always going to use that street, there really isn’t another option,” said Peter Stidman, the director of the BCU. “There’s no way to get rid of the cyclists, they’re already there. What we’re just trying to do is make it safer for everyone.”

The city already has plans to build a bike lane that connects the Boston Medical Center to Symphony. The Mass Ave. Bridge and the Cambridge side of the river already feature bike lanes, too, so this section would connect the area for bikers.

There’s little doubt that it’s the parking that will be removed — there’s already a ton of car and bus traffic on the street — so some area businesses are sure to provide opposition to the plan. The parking isn’t that important to business though, Stidman and other cyclists claim.

“Pedestrians travel in herds on that street, so it would be hard for any business owner to argue that the two-hour parking that’s there comprises a significant portion of their customer base,” Stidman said.

Anyone who has walked around Newbury Street and Boylston Street in that area can attest to the frequent traffic jamming Mass Ave., so the bike lane proposal would mark a drastic change to the landscape.

“It is going to be a test for Boston, to see if we can be progressive and think about alternate forms of transportation,” Stidman said.

The public meeting on the bike lane plan is tonight at the Boston Public Library from 7-9 p.m. The city’s bike czar has a neat website full of resources and includes a map where you can share your bike-friendly ideas.

Published April 14, 2011

Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara, right, will need his team to play disciplined if they're to beat Brian Gionta's Canadiens. (AP)

You just knew this was going to happen.

Ever since mid-season, with the Boston Bruins in the third slot and the Montreal Canadiens securely ensconced as the sixth seed, a collision course has been charted.

The series marks the 33rd time these two venerable rivals will see each other in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the third time in the last four seasons. The only Original Six playoff matchup in this year’s first round will again have fans of both cities perched on the edge of their seats — scowling.

This year there’s more animosity than in previous years. Boston is 2-3-1 against the Habs this year in six contests, but Game 5 at Montreal’s Bell Centre was the one that really set off the fireworks.

In case you’ve forgotten, Zdeno Chara finished his check of Max Pacioretty into the stanchion that separates the team benches in the Bell Centre. The hit launched a firestorm, as fans of the Canadiens thought Chara intended to injure their man, while Boston fans thought otherwise. There was no way anyone was going to change those opinions.

The NHL thought it was a “hockey play” and ruled accordingly. No matter what, it still comes back to the Bruins and Canadiens in a seven-game series to open the 2011 playoffs tonight at the TD Garden.

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Published April 14, 2011

Is Somerville's Union Square cooler than Central or Harvard or Inman? (twintermute/Flickr)

Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man In The World went to BU. Is Somerville the Most Interesting City In The State?

After learning that a Cambridge city councilor dissed his city, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone challenged Cambridge to an “Interesting City Challenge” in an op-ed in the Cambridge Chronicle.

Curtatone claims that “it’s been well over a decade since Davis Square eclipsed Harvard Square’s hip factor,” and, “anybody who’s in the know these days will tell you that Union Square in Somerville (is) the new hip place to be.”

Harvard, how do you like them apples? Hide the college students and dive bars because clearly, them’s fightin’ words.

Somerville is great, Cambridge is great. But which is hipper and more interesting?

Published April 13, 2011

Red Sox right fielder JD Drew turns away in disgust after a called third strike in the ninth inning Tuesday. (AP)

Plenty of words describe the Red Sox in 2011 — dismal, stumbling, historically bad. But how about “World Series-bound?”

Don’t take it from me. Take it from center fielder Carl Crawford (.152/.204/.378), who retweeted this fact on Twitter:

@joshtarge The Twins started 2-9 and won the series that year #funfact

I didn’t believe it either, so I looked it up. Turns out, it was 1991.

The Twins were 2-9 on April 20 and they were a game under .500 as late as June 1. But by the time it was all said and done, the Twins notched 95 regular season wins and a World Series victory over the Atlanta Braves.