Dare leads local trio to Boston Marathon

Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 19, 2009

David W. Smith/ Daily NewsDefensive line coach Eric Mathies works with players before a scrimmage at Houchens Industries LT Smith Stadium Saturday.

Lilly Wheet returned home last year after running her first Boston Marathon and painted a picture of a runner’s heaven.

“She came back and was so thrilled and said the crowd was unlike anything she had ever seen,” says fellow runner Michele Fiala. “She said it blows all marathons out of the water.”

Wheet is back in Beantown again to run in Monday’s Boston Marathon, but this time she won’t have to describe the scene to Fiala or to running buddy Maureen Harrison.

This time, the trio will run together after each qualified for the 113th edition of the famous event. They’ll join Jeff Stein, 39, Kevin Lashley, 30, and Beth Harris, 45, as the Bowling Green runners participating in the race.

“This is the ultimate marathon for runners,” Harrison said. “I can’t wait to experience this. I’m all pumped up and have been ready to go for months.”

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The Boston Marathon has clout and a prestige advantage over many other marathons, in part because it doesn’t have an open invite. A runner must beat a certain time – based on his or her age group – at any Boston Marathon qualifying event.

Just getting to Boston is an achievement. As Wheet put it: “I hate to say ‘bragging rights,’ but in a sense it is.”

Wheet and Fiala attempted to qualify for the 2008 Boston Marathon by running in Carlsbad, Calif., last January. Wheet qualified and ran in Boston, but an injury slowed down Fiala.

Harrison then joined the pair in a marathon in Columbus, Ohio, in October. This time all three qualified.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Wheet said. “Last year when I did it, I pretty much did it by myself. This year, the fear of the unknown is not an issue and I know what to expect.”

Fiala and Harrison definitely made it interesting in October. The 33-year-old Fiala needed to finish in 3:40.59 to qualify – she clocked in at 3:40.40, only 19 seconds better than the cutoff.

The 46-year-old Harrison cut it even closer. She needed to beat 4:00.00 and checked in at 3:59.55.

“I couldn’t really believe it,” Harrison said. “That was very emotional for me.”

The Boston Marathon seems like the highlight of the interesting paths followed by both Fiala and Harrison.

Fiala began running only four years ago to get in better health.

“I would run the Preston (Center at Western Kentucky University) track, which is one-seventh of a mile and I could get around it once or twice before I would have to take a walk break,” Fiala said.

Harrison has been running longer, but two previous marathon attempts in the early 2000s didn’t go well. She clocked in once at 4:45 and then at almost five hours in her two races.

“I said, ‘This is crazy to be pounding for five hours,’ ” Harrison said.

But Harrison witnessed the success of both Fiala and Wheet and got the itch to race again, partially at a social gathering at a local restaurant.

“It was like a dare,” Wheet joked. “Somebody said, ‘I’ll run it if you will and I’ll challenge you.’

“You accept a dare and all of a sudden you think, ‘What did I just do?’ ”

Dare or not, the trio are very close, with a passion for running as members of the Bowling Green Road Runners Club.

Wheet, 49, has been involved in running for some time. She enters her eighth marathon on Monday and has been boosted by her friends.

“If you see (anybody) running on Cemetery Road, jumping on Lovers Lane, running all the way around Veterans (Memorial Lane) and coming back around town, that’s us,” Wheet said. “If you need to know a street light that’s out, ask me. I could tell you timing of stoplights.”

But Monday, instead of memorizing stoplights on the streets of Bowling Green, they’ll be soaking in arguably the most famous marathon in the world.

“It’s a dream come true to get to do this,” Fiala said. “We’re very excited. It’s maybe a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”