In 2004, the slender blonde ran to the lead at the Women's Olympic Marathon Trials in St. Louis, and stayed there for 17 miles, thinking she surely would secure a place on the US team as one of the top three finishers.

Instead, she was securing a reputation she didn't want.

Russell fell to pieces, in part because she had failed to drink water during the race, and she was passed by Deena Kastor and Colleen De Reuck, and then, as her heart sank into her sneakers, by Jen Rhines just 800 meters from the finish line. Russell ended up fourth, and fourth-place finishers don't go to the Olympics.

"After the disaster in 2004, my coach [Bob Sevene] and I knew we had to sit down and develop a game plan to get where I am now," said Russell, who got her spot by coming in third in the Olympic Team Trials yesterday. "Later on tonight, I think it's going to sink in, but right now, it's just really surreal. I couldn't be happier."

The American record-holder in the women's marathon, Kastor won the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon in two hours 29 minutes 35 seconds. After trailing eventual runner-up Magdalena Lewy Boulet by nearly two minutes at the half-way point, Kastor's strong surge over the second half of the race propelled her to the win. Lewy Boulet made her first Olympic Team, finishing second in a personal-best time of 2:30:19.

Elsewhere, 2004 Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Outdoor champion Jeremy Wariner and 2006 IAAF Athlete of the Year Sanya Richards each ran world-leading times in winning their respective 400 meter races at the 2008 Michael Johnson Classic, with Wariner crossing the line in 44.56 and Richards in 50.47. 2005 World Outdoor champion Bershawn Jackson won the men's 400m hurdles at the Kansas Relays in a world-leading 48.32. David Oliver, the 2008 U.S. Indoor champion, set a world-leader in winning the men's 110m hurdles in 13.08 at the International Friendship and Freedom Games while 2008 World Indoor champion Lolo Jones tied the world leader in the women's 100m hurdles, winning in 12.72 at the Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, La. 2007 NCAA champion Brittney Reese of Ole Miss broke her school record in the long jump with a world-leading, personal best jump of 6.93 meters/22 feet 9 inches.

In 1984, she won the first Olympic marathon for women, but her goals now are more modest. Two weeks ago, she said she hoped to run the marathon in 2 hours 50 minutes. On Friday she said, not completely in jest, “My goal is getting to the starting line and getting to the finish line.”

On a crisp Sunday morning, she accomplished all of that. She finished in 2:49.08, putting her 90th among the 124 finishers, and giving her an American record for the women’s 50-54 age group. Along the roads in Boston and Cambridge, she received the loudest cheers of any runner.

“The support around the course was unbelievable,” she said. “I ran a very conservative race. All I wanted was to break three hours and finish.”

Samuelson has been a favorite here since 1979, when she unexpectedly won the Boston Marathon. She finished that race wearing a Red Sox cap given to her by a spectator. This time, she started with a white cap and finished with another Red Sox cap.