Wardian Wins 2010 ING Hartford Marathon

By LORI RILEY, lriley@courant.com

Michael Wardian got off work at 7 p.m. Friday and rushed to the Baltimore airport. His plane landed in Connecticut about midnight and he was tucked in bed, sleeping on an air mattress at the home of one of the race organizers, John Barresi, at 1 a.m.

He got about four hours of sleep, made it to the start of the ING Hartford Marathon and started running. He didn't feel great.

But he just kept his pace, kept on plugging away, started to feel better after a few miles and what do you know? He won.

"I got lucky, man," he said, after winning his sixth marathon of the year, in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 38 seconds. "It's like I told somebody else, I was just hurting less than everybody else. It worked out great."

Wardian, 36, of Arlington, Va., is an ultramarathoner, the 50-mile national champion and the bronze medalist at the world 50K championship. So 26.2 miles is easy, right?

Not exactly, Wardian said.

"But," he added, "I am pretty decent at these. And consistent."

Last Sunday, he ran 2:21:18 at the Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota.

Jeannette Faber (formerly Seckinger, she got married last month) won the women's race for the second consecutive year, finishing in 2:41:06, five minutes faster than she ran last year.

Approximately 8,000 runners competed in the marathon, half-marathon, 5K and marathon relay. The weather was perfect for running.

"I thought it was fantastic," Wardian said. "Twin Cities last weekend — that was seriously the best [weather] day I've ever had. This is the second best day. Fifty degrees, sunny but not hot."

Kim Smith of Providence set a race record in the half-marathon, winning in 1:11:37 and breaking the old record by almost four minutes. Smith, a two-time Manchester Road Race winner, is preparing to run the New York City Marathon Nov. 7. The half-marathon course, which ran mainly through West Hartford, was new this year.

Derese Deniboba of Ethiopia, who finished second in last year's half-marathon, won it Saturday in 1:05:24. Lucas Meyer, a UConn Law School student from West Hartford, was second (1:06:59).

Two-time men's marathon winner Patrick Moulton of Providence dropped out of the marathon after five miles.

"Basically, I felt off, tired," Moulton said. "I couldn't even keep up with the second pack. It was five miles into the race at that point. I didn't want to struggle the whole way out there."