By the time they went under a highway overpass just in front of the 24-mile mark, the five runners were separated by a matter of seconds -- a dramatic late-race skirmish that played out on a stretch of deserted asphalt near the Pentagon.
"Five guys, and I knew it was anyone's race," said Juarez, an Air Force major based in San Antonio who said his competitive marathon days may have ended after yesterday's third-place finish. "Unusual, that's the perfect word for it."
It was a great day for spectators, but runners found the high temperature oppressive. Approximately 45 marathoners were taken to area hospitals.
(Toni L. Sandys -- The Washington Post)
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| _____ Marine Corps Marathon _____
• Retta Feyissa wins the Marine Corps Marathon in 2:25:35.
• Mary Kate Bailey becomes the first active duty Marine to win the women's race since 1979.
• Marines help organize the race.
• Some marathoners run in memory of the fallen.
_____ Top 10 Men _____
1. Retta Feyissa, Bronx, N.Y., 2 hours, 25 minutes, 35 seconds.
2. Terrance Shea, Rochester, Mich., 2:25:57.
3. Chris Juarez, San Antonio, 2:26:03.
4. Jose Miranda, Mexico, 2:26:26.
5. Carl Rundell, Birmingham, Mich., 2:26:48.
6. Benjamin Palafox, Mexico, 2:30:36.
7. Paul Rades, Silver Spring, 2:31:18.
8. Mark Croadale, United Kingdom, 2:32:54.
9. Chris Farley, Arlington, 2:33:50.
10. Mark Goodridge, United Kingdom, 2:34:31. _____ Top 10 Women _____
1. Mary Kate Bailey, Long Island, N.Y., 2:48:31.
2. Kimberly Fagen, San Diego, 2:51:17.
3. Suzanne Clemmer, Gastonia, N.C., 2:59:11.
4. Eleanor Stewart-Garbrech, Jacksonville, Fla., 3:05:47.
5. Jill Metzger, APO AE, 3:06:26.
6. Sage Stefiuk, Fayetteville, N.C., 3:06:36.
7. Kirsten Ward, Arlington, 3:07:25.
8. Amanda Rasmussen, Colorado Springs, Colo., 3:08:37.
9. Connie Buckwalter, Lititz, Pa., 3:08:46.
10. Kelly Jaske, Washington, 3:08:56.
_____ On Our Site _____
• Photos
• Course map
_____ Live Online _____
• MCM's Rick Nealis took questions Thursday. Read the transcript.
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Or as Kevin Hanson, who coaches Shea and Rundell, put it, "They all came together in time for the death shuffle."
That closing stretch, though, turned out to be surprisingly painless for Feyissa. He and Shea quickly separated from the other three runners, sharing a bottle of water and swapping the lead several times before the Ethiopian calmly pulled away over the final three-quarters of a mile to win by 22 seconds.
"He was running the race that I tried to run -- minimize exertion as long as possible, find a steady rhythm," Shea said. "He was patient, which is the biggest virtue for a good marathoner."
It was a sweet victory for Feyissa, who had kept pace with eventual champion Juarez before the hamstring problem in 2002 and skipped last year's race because of another injury. Feyissa fled Ethiopia for political reasons in 2001, settling in Washington with the help of Catholic Charities, for which he ran yesterday's race. He was one of 40 runners raising money for the group's four local women and children's shelters; each pledged to raise $1,500.
Feyissa moved to the Bronx last May; he works as a maintenance man for a Catholic nursing home in Manhattan while keeping up his distance running in the city's parks. He said he still dreams of attaining United States citizenship, a task he hoped would be helped by his marathon victory. Many of his other goals focus on athletics -- including, remarkably, a strong finish at next weekend's considerably more competitive New York City Marathon.
A win in New York brings a monetary reward; yesterday's victory earned Feyissa a trophy, dozens of handshakes and a few hugs, including several from ecstatic Catholic Charities employees. That, Feyissa said, was reward enough.
"Marine Corps Marathon, they don't have prize money, but it's a big race," he said. "This is a big marathon, and I won it, you know?"
Special correspondent Kathy Orton contributed to this report.
