Kipchoge says leg injury foiled his Boston Marathon attempt

BOSTON: The rain might be gone if Eliud Kipchoge returns for another try at the Boston Marathon, as he said Tuesday he intends to do. The field might be thinner. The wind might be at his back.

But Heartbreak Hill will still be there.

The historic route from Hopkinton to Boston’s Back Bay isn’t going to change, and that was the biggest problem for the two-time Olympic gold medalist who set a world record on the flattest of the major marathon courses and broke 2 hours in a completely controlled environment.

“I can’t win every time,” he told reporters a day after his slowest marathon ever and just his third loss in a major race to go with 12 victories.

“I was feeling good. And I think it’s just it’s a challenge. So let us discuss it as a challenge and move on,” he said. “You know, there is three things: Yesterday is a canceled check. Today is cash. And tomorrow is a promissory note. Let us forget about the canceled checks, let us talk of the cash and the promissory notes.”

A day after finishing sixth in his Boston debut, Kipchoge said he had a problem with his left leg that prevented him from pushing the pace. He would not elaborate — “I’m not a doctor” — but allowed that it was his upper leg.

“I tried to do what was necessary but it wasn’t working. So I put my mind just trying to cope with the pace and just to finish,” he said. “A lot of thought was going on in my mind but I said, ‘Hey, I can’t quit.’ I’ve been in this sport for a long (time). They say it’s important to win, but it’s great to participate and finish.”

In one of the most-anticipated arrivals in the race’s recent history, Kipchoge came to Boston as a heavy favorite to add the world’s oldest and most prestigious marathon to his already unprecedented