As Hellen Obiri, 33, approached the 2023 Boston Marathon finish line, the TV announcer cried, “Left on Boylston, and then they go, you just run straight into history from there. Hellen Obiri is going to win the 127th Boston Marathon. I think her daughter Tania is down here to greet her.”
In Obiri’s second marathon ever, she broke the tape on Boylston Street and there, waiting, was her smiling 7-year-old daughter, Tania. In fact, Tania’s face held a look of awe while looking at her mother, bent over, hands over her mouth.
Obiri, who moved to the United States with her family just three weeks ago, almost didn’t run this year’s Boston Marathon. She told reporters after the race that “my heart was somewhere else,” and that “I can’t go for Boston. It’s a hard race, and there’s a strong field.”
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But buoyed by her family—including Tania and her husband, Tom Nyaundi—Obiri ran 2:21:38 to win the top prize.
“My family is here, and they have given me so much support, and I want to make them happy,” she told WCVB.
When asked how her mom did, Tania, smiling, said “good.”
Heather is the former food and nutrition editor for Runner’s World, the author of The Runner’s World Vegetarian Cookbook, and a seven-time marathoner with a best of 3:31—but she is most proud of her 1:32 half, 19:44 5K, and 5:33 mile. Her work has been published in The Boston Globe, Popular Mechanics, The Wall Street Journal Buy Side, Cooking Light, CNN, Glamour, The Associated Press, and Livestrong.com.
