LOCAL RUNNERS COMPETE IN BOSTON MARATHON

Five area runners got to experience the thrill of participating in last week's Boston Marathon and two received the additional thrill of being among the best runners in the prestigious race.

Bernadette Huston and Ron Keller, both of Cape Girardeau, finished extremely high in the overall standings of the 26.2-mile event that included approximately 12,000 runners.

Huston, 40, had a time of 3:03.28 -- which is nearly two minutes faster than her previous personal best -- as she finished 54th among all female runners. And she was 11th in her age division.

Keller, 41, clocked 2:48.53, which is not quite his personal best, but it was good enough to place 285th overall (259th among all male finishers) and 44th in his age grouping.

"I was really pleased with my time," said Huston. "Going into it, I thought I would at least come close to my personal record. I guess everything just fell into place that day and I was excited to break my personal record."

Huston figures the experience she gained last year during her first Boston Marathon -- when about 40,000 runners competed in the event's 100th anniversary -- helped greatly this time around.

"Running last year, it made me more aware of what was ahead of me, all the work," she said. "Between miles 16 and 22 are just hills, really rough hills, so I knew what to expect a little more. I had driven the course last year before I ran it, but running it is different."

Although Huston has been running for a long time -- "My classmates and I ran on the first high school girls track team in Marshall (Mo.)" -- she has only been competing in marathons for about three years.

"I was helping friends train for marathons and I started running with my friends," she said. "I thought they (marathons) were really neat."

Huston, who plans to compete in the New York City Marathon in November, said she has already qualified for next year's Boston Marathon.

"I don't know if I'll run at Boston next year because I usually don't repeat marathons," she said. "But Boston is so different. The crowd is just so supportive, and running with the elite runners, it's just really exciting."

Unlike Huston, Keller was competing in his first Boston Marathon last week. He was happy with his placement and surprised that the course was even more difficult than he had imagined.

"Out of that many runners, I was happy with it (his finish)," he said. "I wanted to do a little bit better, but I found out that's a very challenging course. It was more difficult than what I figured it would be."

Keller, like Huston in his third year of running marathons, said he has only been running for about five years overall, so he has progressed rapidly in the sport.

"I guess I was blessed with some talent for it," he said.

Keller said he would like to return to Boston for the race, but not next year.

"Maybe in a couple of years I'll go back," he said.

* The three other local runners who completed the Boston Marathon are Bryan Kelpe of Cape Girardeau, Michael Calahan of Jackson and Ken Peters of Jackson.

Kelpe, 19, placed 2,360 overall and 1,407 in his age group (3:18.44); Calahan 49, finished 2,420 overall and 708 in his age group (3:18.33); and Peters, 57, finished 5,406 overall and 491 in his age group (3:45.33).