Boston Marathon Features On wbztv.com
Apr 13, 2009 9:29 pm US/Eastern
MI Running Team Keeps Their Eye On Boston Prize
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Meet the Hanson-Brooks running team out of Michigan -- six guys who are together almost 24/7.
WBZ
They are a group of guys on a mission. At one time, they were all top runners on their college teams, now they all run together for one goal: to win, place or show in
Boston.
"(It's) really not unrealistic to see four or five of us in the top 10," said Kyle O'Brien, who finished 18th at Boston in 2006.
Meet the
Hanson-Brooks running team out of Michigan – six guys who are together almost 24/7. They eat together, live together and even get on each other's nerves… together. "The same as the knock down, drag outs you can have with you brother, and then turn around and go to the basketball game afterward… (it's) the same kind of thing," said Hanson-Brooks team founder Kevin Hanson.
"We show up every morning and everybody is trying to be the best they can be, and you push each other to the point where, you know, you're not happy with everybody all the time, and it really is like a family," said O'Brien.
There's a saying that goes, iron sharpens iron, and these guys push each other, so much so that in 2006, Brian Sell finished fourth in Boston. He time was 2:10:55. "By far my best race, up to that point and it really spring-boarded me into better things beyond that," he said. "I made the Olympic team in 2008 – that was a big one, and I think Boston has a lot to do with my continued success."
Sell's not the only one sold on Boston. Hanson-Brooks placed six runners in the top 20 three years ago. Luke Humphrey finished 11th. He said the crowd stood out most in his mind. "It was amazing the whole way. Especially around Boston College it started getting really crazy."
The Hanson-Brooks team takes group training to a different level, yet each guy has made it personal for an even bigger cause. "The main idea behind our program is trying to get American distance running back on the map, in the big picture, in the world scene, and what better place to do it than the Boston Marathon," said O'Brien.
If they do it in Boston, the world will know.
The Hanson-Brooks project also has a women's team, who raced in Boston in 2007.
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