Boston Marathon Finish Line

This guide to the Boston Marathon Finish Line follows the brutal 1982 duel between Alberto Salazar, America's fastest man at twenty-three, and Dick Beardsley, a Minnesota farm boy nobody expected to keep pace. The two ran side by side for the race's final nine miles under a blazing sun, neither letting the other see him hurt, trading the lead through Kenmore Square and onto this final half mile. The effort left both men needing medical treatment afterward. The modern vinyl strip laid fresh across Boylston Street each spring still catches finishes decided by less than a second.