Dare we say this could be one of the deepest women’s pro fields we’ve seen assembled for the Boston Marathon? The 130th edition of the race from Hopkinton to Boylston Street gets underway on Monday, and a slew of the top racers in women’s road running currently will look to finish atop the podium at one of the toughest of the World Marathon Majors.

Defending champion and course record holder (2:17:22) Sharon Lokedi returns as one of the favorites to win yet another Boston Marathon title, and she enters coming off a notable 2025 marathon campaign that featured wins in both Boston and New York. Among some of her top challengers are fellow Kenyan Irine Cheptai, who took fourth in Boston last year, and Ethiopia’s Workenesh Edesa, who dipped under the 2:18 mark to win the 2025 Hamburg Marathon.

But perhaps the biggest storyline to follow on Patriots’ Day? The competition among the U.S. contingent. With American record holder Emily Sisson running the Boston Marathon for the first time in her career, as well as 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials winner Fiona O’Keeffe, Paris Olympian Dakota Popehn, 2025 Boston Marathon top U.S. finisher Jess McClain, and plenty of other notable names all toeing the line together, expect an entertaining battle to play out on race day.

Content hype editor Ashley Tysiac breaks down what you can expect from the women’s race on Monday. You can continue to stay in-the-know on all things Boston with our watch guide, and you can follow along with Runner’s World’s coverage of the 2026 Boston Marathon by exploring our full collection of stories. You can also dive into our preview of the men’s race here.

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Ashley is Editor of Content Hype at Hearst’s Enthusiast & Wellness Group. She is a former collegiate runner at UNC Asheville where she studied mass communication. Ashley loves all things running; she has raced two marathons, plus has covered some of the sport’s top events in her career, including the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials and multiple World Marathon Majors.

She spent 286 days in a row in space in an unexpected marathon mission. Her extended stay on the International Space Station in 2024 and 2025 captured the attention of the world.

And a year after splashing down back on Earth, Needham’s own Sunita Williams is now preparing for a different kind of marathon: She’s running Boston on Monday.

“It’s just such a great opportunity because I love Boston and I love this time of year,” Williams said.

She retired from NASA in January after a 27 year career.

Asked if preparing for a marathon is more rigorous than preparing for a space mission, Williams said they’re about the same.

“There are good days and bad days,” she said.

Williams knows about resilience.

“It’s slow. It’s going to be a little bit of torture this year but I decided, what the heck? I’m 60 years old and I wanted to show people you just have to get to the starting line and then see how it all works out,” she said.

After her return from her extended stay in space, Needham native Suni Williams sat down with NBC10 Boston for an interview in Houston.

Over the course of her career, Williams spent 608 days in space spanning three different missions. In 2007, she ran the Boston Marathon on board the International Space Station.

Now, a new generation of astronauts are breaking records of their own. Williams is excited after watching the Artemis II mission.

“It was so awesome to see that mission so successful,” she said. “What a great mission. We are opening the next door to get back to the moon. This mission had to be a success for us to be able to do that.”

Four astronauts are home safe after spending the last 10 days traveling to the moon and back.

The Artemis mission sent astronauts to the far side of the moon for the first time in decades.

“They did such a marvelous job through the photographs, through the commentary,” said Williams, “through their attitude. It was just wonderful to watch. The whole time I wanted to be up there. I was in Florida watching the launch and, damn, that’s a huge rocket. That’s so cool. I wish I was part of it but I am so proud of this next generation of astronauts. They’re going to do a great job.”

As for the Boston Marathon, Williams said she is excited.

Asked what the first thing she would do after crossing the finish line, she said, “Let’s see, maybe have a Sam Adams.”

A man is running the Boston Marathon to highlight the courage of his 9-year-old daughter’s battle with cancer. Here’s Emma Cohen’s story.

Another sea breeze day is upon us across New England and our temperatures range from the 40s to 80s all over! 

Eastern Massachusetts has a continued easterly breeze carrying in more fog and cold temps. While outside of 495 we have summer like heat and sunshine breaking through the clouds. 

The sea breeze actually keeps most of southeastern New England quiet as storms develop along a frontal boundary this evening. Between 4-10 p.m., some severe thunderstorms pop up across northern New York, Vermont and even some of northwestern Massachusetts. 

The largest chance for severe storms will be in New York to Vermont, isolated severe in New Hampshire and northwestern Massachusetts. 

Then the storms fizzle or completely dissipate before reaching Boston late tonight. The South Coast, Cape Cod and the islands will remain dry until some predawn showers Friday. 

Scattered rain and storms remain for all on Friday as temps reach the 60s to low 70s, even to the coast. Saturday, an east breeze carries far inland so everyone cools to the 50s to 60. Sunday, scattered showers and temps go from the 60s before dropping significantly for Marathon Monday. Lows in Hopkinton start in the mid 30s with patchy frost and a gusty west wind. Temps through the race and as runners cross the finish line in Boston, in the 40s.