Oprah did it.
Oprah Winfrey, the celebrated TV talk show host whose dieting triumphs are legendary, pushed her tired and very slender body up one last incline and crossed the finish line yesterday in the grueling, rain-soaked Marine Corps Marathon. She didn't complete the 26-mile 385-yard winding course through Washington quite as fast as she had hoped, but she made a respectable showing. Her unofficial time was 4 hours 29 minutes and 20 seconds.
"You're an inspiration," shouted one bystander at the 24-mile marker, where Winfrey was showing signs of fatigue. But then, as an afterthought, he added, "and so is everybody else." Almost 16,000 runners entered the marathon, and for the many -- famous or not -- who finished the race, it was a tremendous personal victory.
Spectators and runners alike took obvious delight in Winfrey's run. "Way to go!" the crowd shouted as she passed by, wearing bib number 40, chosen because it matches her age. Several runners striding alongside her encouragingly patted her shoulder. Even at the weary end of the route, she was still replying with a double thumbs-up gesture.
Winfrey's fiance, Stedman Graham, who at the starting line had sheltered her from the rain with a big umbrella, greeted her at the race's end with a hug and a kiss. Beaming with accomplishment but limping slightly, she said she was headed next for "a long hot bath and then a foot massage from Graham."
Winfrey's run came after months of disciplined workouts in which she tried to cover at least eight miles a day. In September, she entered a 15-mile race in Minneapolis, and she has run as far as 21 miles at one time in training. But 26 miles is a new record for her, she said yesterday.
When she arrived for the race, Winfrey was surrounded by protective Marines in fatigues and jogged in place at the starting line to keep limber. "What is this?" she asked jokingly as the precipitation suddenly changed from drizzle to a downpour. She acknowledged that she was nervous -- "I woke up eight times last night" -- and said she ate a light breakfast of fruit and half of a bagel. Compared with most of the runners, Winfrey was overdressed for the mild, humid morning. Most participants stripped to shorts and T-shirts for the race. She began in full-length gray stretch pants tucked into her shoes, a jacket and a baseball cap. Seven miles into the run, the jacket was gone. The long pants stayed on, and they may have slowed her. Her trainer, Bob Graves, who accompanied her the full length of the marathon, later said that the rain probably added three pounds to her clothing.
In the first minute of the race, hundreds of runners swept by Winfrey but she never was in any danger of coming in last. At the seven-mile marker, she was running in the middle of the pack -- about 30 minutes behind the leaders -- and going strong. She had enough wind to talk early in the race, noting, "Everybody's a talker in the first 10 miles."
At 24 miles, her pace had slowed, but she still was moving faster than many runners half her age. Marines and volunteers were handing out paper cups of water and Gatorade; without stopping, she grasped for a Gatorade and downed it, managing to shake several hands at the same time. She clutched her sides occasionally, as if in pain, but her trainer said she never stopped to rest or walk, as many participants did.
Just before the finish line at the Iwo Jima Memorial, runners were faced with a short but steep incline that can seem like a mountain. Winfrey dashed up the hill, passing several startled runners. More than 40 minutes later, hundreds of participants were still crossing the line after her.
The celebrity magazines say Winfrey's show is seen by 15 million viewers and that she has a personal fortune of more than $200 million. Now she has another laurel. Like the thousands of runners who completed yesterday's marathon with her, she is an athlete.
At least for a day. During a news conference after the race, Winfrey vowed that this marathon would be her last.