Boston race 'really good,' says local rookie runner

Ryan Lee's road to the Boston Marathon began with a quest for physical fitness.

"I was overweight about 10 years ago," he says, "and decided to do something. I thought about hunting or fishing, but decided to go for a run. I started at a mile, and really liked it, went two miles and then to 5Ks and 10ks, never dreaming I'd do a marathon. Now, here I am."

Lee, 35, had the best finish of three Hot Springs men in the 119th Boston Marathon on Monday. He completed the 26.2 miles in 3 hours, 21 minutes and 44 seconds, more than an hour behind winner Lelila Desisa but invigorated by participating in the nation's premier running event.

"People ask me if I was nervous," Lee said in a telephone interview Friday, "but I was never nervous, just more excited than anything. It was really good, a lot of fun."

Also from Hot Springs, Billy Shelton, 52, finished in 3:53.21 and Bonston Marathon rookie Stephen Harrison, 35, in 4:14.43 among more than 26,000 participants.

"That's nowhere near my best marathon time (in six races)," said Harrison, "but that's OK because I was running for charity and it was more about the experience than anything."

Harrison was invited to run for UNICEF USA, on which his cousin is a national board member, some three or four months in advance. "I was nowhere in race shape and didn't train nearly as much as Ryan did or as I would have otherwise. But I said, of course, I would do it because it's the oldest marathon and has loads of tradition."

Lee bettered the qualifying standard of 3:10 with a 3:05 clocking in Houston last year, making the Boston field after failing six times. He said he will learn in September if his qualifying time in an Indianapolis marathon earns him a return trip to Boston April 18, 2016.

"This is the one you want to try to get into," said Lee, running 10 marathons before getting to Boston.

Feeling more at home, he said, on the flatter Houston and Little Rock courses, Lee experienced four hills in Boston between miles 6 and 21. Following a downhill stretch of five miles, "Those really wore me out," Lee said.

Runners start in groups according to qualifying times. "For instance, they're not going to put four-hour runners in with three-hour runners," Lee said. "I was afraid about falling or tripping at the start, but everything went very, very smoothly."

Desisa won his second Boston Marathon title, his 2013 championship overshadowed by terrorist bombings. Clocked in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 17 seconds on Monday, the Ethiopian received a golden olive wreath, $150,000 and a winner's medal to replace the one he donated to the city two years ago in memory of the victims.

Kenya's Carolina Rotich won the women's race by 4 seconds over Ethiopian Mare Dibaba. Top American finishers were Michiganders Dathan Ritzenheim and Desiree Linden. Leading Arkansans were Mark Ferguson, 42, of Little Rock (523rd in 2:45.17) and Andrea Sieczkowski, 38, of Maumelle (6,048th in 3:16.11).

With the Boston Marathon still in a healing mode, local runners felt race security was more than adequate without being excessive.

"I ran in the New York Marathon the same year of the Boston bombings," said Harrison. "That was in November after the Boston race in April. In both races you could feel an ever-present sense of security -- helicopters, (police) dogs and military police. But in neither case did that interfere with my running."

"At no point in the race," Lee said, "did I feel unsafe."

Hot Springs runners

Ryan Lee, age 35, 3:21.44

Overall place: 7,443. Men's place: 6,212. Men's 35-39 age group: 3,270.

Split times: 22 minutes, 46 seconds, 5K. 45:36, 10K. 1:08.19, 15K. 1:31:23, 20K. 1:36.25, half. 1:54.51, 25K. 2:18.35, 30K. 2:43.11, 35K. 3:09.28, 40K.

Billy Shelton, age 52, 3:53.21

Overall place: 17,256. Men's place: 10,636. Men's 50-54 age group: 1,572.

Stephen Harrison, age 35, 4:14.43

Overall place: 21,160. Men's place: 12,174 Men's 35-39 age group: 4,293.

Sports on 04/26/2015

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