Sharop Cherop and Wesley Korir won the women's and men's titles at the 116th running of the Boston Marathon

By Chad Finn, Globe Staff

Wesley Korir's bona fides as an elite distance runner were well-established before he made his Boston Marathon debut Monday. But it was some common sense and adherence to the day's conventional wisdom that helped the two-time Los Angeles Marathon champ add Boston to his list of conquests.

"It was very important to me to take water, to take fluids, to hydrate as often as possible, even if it led to falling off the pace at times,'' said Korir after winning the 116th Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

Then, the affable Kenyan and graduate of the University of Louisville added with a smile, "It's hot. Too hot. In case you don't know that.''

Concerns about the 80-degree temperatures led to more than 4,000 runners deferring their entries until next year. There were 26,716 entrants this year, but just 22,426 started the race.

Korir was the first to finish, in part because of his emphasis on making sure he was in good condition for the end of the race, when he could use his impressive sprinting ability to his advantage. Korir began cramping at mile 13, and at mile 20 he was still in sixth place.

"Somebody shouted on the side of the road that I was in sixth place,'' said Korir. "The guys had taken off at a fast pace. I didn't want to go too hard and cramp up. I thought, let me go conservative and run my race. I was concerned about my health."

At the 15-mile mark, he was among a lead pack that included countrymen Levy Matebo, Mathew Kisorio, and defending champion Geoffrey Mutai.