Brian L. Frank for The New York Times
The morning after he completed his first Boston Marathon, Markelle Taylor was sitting at a boisterous watering hole in the South End trading war stories. He kibitzed with a couple from Australia about the wind during the race. He commiserated with a runner from Oregon who had slipped on a banana peel. Markelle, 46, had finished in 3 hours 3 minutes 52 seconds, a personal best. They were impressed.
“This is the first time I’ve run Boston, but it’s my fifth marathon,” he told them in his slight Southern accent.