This guy, Seth Wold, ran fast enough to catch up to the elite runners in the Boston Marathon and actually was in the lead for a short while. After two-and-a-half miles, though, he slacked his and finished the race with an unofficial time of 2:49:43.


Wold finished in 927th place out of over 30,000 racers, which is not exactly Meb-like, but still pretty damned good. And now he's got a pretty cool story to go with it.

"I cruised to the lead and paced with the eventual winner, Meb. It was great to get in a solid workout with the best runners in the world. I slowed down to my long run pace after the 2.5 mile mark and loved seeing the top guys speed away. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my running life."


Wold actually busted up his leg nine days before the race playing indoor soccer with his wife. Weirdly, that injury is how he wound up running with the eventual race-winner.

Well at this point I have 2 options in my mind. 1) Run the marathon at a slow and relaxed pace, so I don't blow up my knee. 2) Get a great speed workout while running with my heros, then run a relaxed pace to the finish. ... The Elite men came out and I chatted with Bryant Jensen. It was good to see him. Soon the gun went off and we flew down hill. I quickly made my way to the right side of the road and popped up in the front of the lead pack. I paced with Meb, Abdi, Ryan Hall and Desisa. Talk about a dream come true for the track nerd part of me. The whole front pack was silent. Meb would motion with his hand when he wanted to cut the tangent to the opposite side of the road. It was just like any other speed workout with my pals from Utah. 2.5 miles in my knee started to catch. I wanted to go further, as I was feeling good, but I didn't want to risk injury, so I slowly faded off the back of the pack.

Wold isn't just some rando, either. He's got some pedigree: he ran in college for the University of Utah, has run other marathons and won The Pony Express 50-mile race in 2011.

Utah native Seth Wold led the Boston Marathon for short time [Deseret News]