As the field of elite male runners toed the starting line of the 2014 Boston Marathon, the more surprising realization was not the media or general public’s dismissal of 38-year-old Meb Keflezighi’s chances, but the equally dismissive treatment he received from other top level runners. They didn’t rate him as a threat. After all, how else would the enormous lead that Keflezighi ascended to over the middle part of the course be explained?

By the time top runners realized who the real danger was, it was too late. Keflezighi made history as the first U.S. men’s winner in decades, surviving a late Wilson Chebet charge to achieve a famous victory. And contrary to the notions of casual fans, Keflezighi’s win was not purely the result of being the fastest, but more accurately that he was also the shrewdest. As a veteran, he utilized every aspect of psychological and tactical acumen.

The Boston course is not a normal marathon setup. Countless undulations and turns make it a unique challenge for world class runners who are more used to the level plane of marathons like Chicago. To win it, it’s necessary be more than merely fast. Among other requirements, contenders have to master psychological warfare.

Part of it stems from the lack of knowledge that runners are given during the race. Whereas cyclists in the Tour de France are connected to information from their team leader by an earpiece radio, marathon runners have only their eyes. No official measurements of time gaps are given either, so breakaways from the contenders are less quantifiable.

This was critical for Keflezighi, who was allowed to escape early in the race with fellow American Josphat Boit as his rivals eyed defending champion Lelisa Desisa instead. Since Desisa didn’t pursue, no one made a strong effort to reign in Keflezighi’s move. What wasn’t clear at that point (but was critical for Keflezighi) was that Desisa was struggling, and would not be a factor ultimately.

“Sight lines”

As Keflezighi and Boit built a lead on the rest of the field, it was the veteran who used the course to his advantage. Keflezighi eventually put a gap between himself and the faltering Boit.

Runner’s World senior content editor Scott Douglas explained Keflezighi’s next piece of strategy:

What Meb very smartly did was, going up the hills, he pushed as hard as he could. And on the hills, you sort of don’t see for a mile ahead at a time. So that when they would catch sight of him, he would be that much farther ahead.

In other words, Keflezighi accelerated to intentionally elongate his lead in time for the hills, knowing that his competition would only catch glimpses of him at various points. The psychological effect of seeing a much wider gap than they previously considered was possible planted a seed of doubt in the rest of the elite runners.

“They would base it on sight lines,” Douglas said of how runners gauge other runner’s leads. “They wouldn’t be getting a lot of good information along the way other than what they could see.”

“What happened?”

Naturally, the more talented runners like Chebet eventually woke up to the fact that not only was the supposed top runner (Desisa) a non-threat, but Keflezighi’s challenge was legitimate.

Belatedly, they increased their tempo. Chebet made a remarkable comeback, nearly closing the gap on Keflezighi and denying him his miracle win. It was indicative of the fact that on a straight, flat marathon, Chebet would probably have won.

But Keflezighi had one last round of mind games. He recalled this recently in an interview with the Boston Globe:

I just said, ‘Come to Hereford (Street) and the right turn, sprint to Boylston Street as hard as you can, take the tangent and by the time he turns, make that gap bigger. So when he turns and says ‘What happened?’ And kind of hopefully mentally he will give up.

Again, Keflezighi used a tactical trick to increase the mental strain on his rival (Chebet). In the already strenuous mental challenge of running a competitive marathon, any extra tweak can make the difference. It helped that Chebet was nearly exhausted from his amazing effort of the previous few miles to close down Keflezighi’s lead to six seconds.

Yet Meb pulled away on Boylston, confirming not only his phenomenal fitness, but psychological dominance.

Beware, 2015 marathon challengers. In order to win in Boston, you need more than simply good form and a top time. Mental toughness and tactical knowledge can count just as much.