Charlotte woman wins N.H. Marathon

More great news, this time from New England: Charlotte's Kacey Faberman, a 25-year-old South Meck grad, was the women's winner at the small but scenic New Hampshire Marathon on Saturday; her 3:41:13 was a PR by more than 11 minutes.

Kacey said she chose the race -- which featured just 240 finishers and was held in the small town of Bristol, N.H. -- "for a couple of reasons, including enjoying a fall marathon in New England and visiting my 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Holderness, about 16 miles from Bristol."

"I had a blast," she told me in an e-mail Monday. "Contributing factors included beautiful weather: 50 at the start with a nice breeze; breathtaking scenery: most of the miles were around Newfound Lake, along quiet country roads and the leaves are starting to change; and great people: both camaraderie along the route--especially with those who were doubling up and running the Peak Performance Maine Marathon the next day, the cheering spectators sitting out on their front porches and a super nice event organizer who placed medals around the necks of each finisher."

This was her fourth marathon; her previous personal best was a 3:52:52 at the Baltimore Marathon in 2008. She has only been running for a little more than three years.

"PRs are always awesome. I thought I was going to get stuck in a 3:50s rut, but this race certainly proved me wrong. I'd chalk it up to running more 5Ks in the past six months (10) than I ever ran before (two) and adopting a rescue dog -- Charlie Brown -- back in August who won't run slower than eight-minute miles and never tires out, even on double digit runs."

With victory came reward: "Not only did the director cut me a check -- enough to take my family out for lobster rolls and cover airfare and entry for next year's race -- but I also received a Newfound Lake afghan, a one-year subscription to New England Runner Magazine and a gift certificate for a Road ID. ... Small-town races are so cool."

But there were even bigger takeaways for Kacey. "I learned from the marathon this weekend that while setting goals based on time are important as far as planning your training goes, running with the goal of having fun and finishing feeling good are supreme ... and often more attainable!"