Amy Keywood qualifies for Boston with a 3:56 Houston Marathon

Pine Belt Pacer running club members, Amy Keywood, Sheryl Chatfield and Vicki Copeland, have now qualified to run the Boston Marathon. On Sunday 1/15, Copeland covered the 26.2 mile course of the Houston Marathon finishing in a time of 4 hours 04 minutes 01 seconds. At age 54, she needed to run a time under 4 hours 15 minutes in order to qualify as an entrant in the 110th annual Boston Marathon which will be held April 16, 2006. Sheryl Chatfield, winner of the Female Master's Division of Saturday's Mississippi Marathon is another Pine Belt Pacer who has qualified for the Boston Marathon. Her time was 3:46:16 for the 26.2 mile distance. The qualification time for Chatfield's 40-44 age group is 3:50. Other Pine Belt Pacers who previously qualified are Keith Barrett, Jim Coll and Robin Ryder.

The Boston Marathon will have a wave start for the first time in '06. The world's most storied marathon begins on the crowded streets in the small city of Hopkington, Mass. The tradition of the event will change, but the wave start will help alleviate the race's hectic noon departure. Visit: www.BAA.org for details of the new policy. The 110th Boston Marathon will be held April 17.

Hattiesburg American Article published Aug 7, 2005

By Alan Hinton Three runners from Hattiesburg are counting the days until April 17.

That is the date that the 110th Boston Marathon will be held, and they plan to run all 26 miles, 385 yards.

"I've run in marathons in New York and Chicago and other places," said Keith Barrett, who plans to run in Boston. "In those, you just pay your money and go. Boston is intriguing because you have to qualify. Boston is the granddaddy of them all."

By race day, Barrett - the executive director of the Pine Belt Boys and Girls Club - will be 45 years old. To qualify, runners age 45-49 must have finished a registered marathon in 3 hours, 30 minutes, and 59 seconds or better.

In the Houston Marathon earlier this year, Barrett finished in 3:30:11.

"Houston was my 23rd marathon," Barrett said. "When I qualified in Houston, I didn't know I had done it. I'm 44, so you have to run a 3:20 to qualify for Boston. But in the rules, your qualifying time would be how old you are when you run it. So my qualifying time moved from 3:20 to 3:30:59.

"I was expecting a big rush when I qualified, but I didn't even know I had done it."

But he qualified, and so did Jim Coll and Robin Ryder.

Ryder has run in Boston before, but this will be Coll's first time. The Houston Marathon was Coll's sixth marathon, but he also qualified for Boston at it.

"I'm 31, so I had to run a 3:10 to qualify," Coll said. "I ran a 3:07. That was my best time."

The three long-distance runners - who you might see running through the streets of Hattiesburg, through the University of Southern Mississippi campus or on the Longleaf Trace - hope one or two more runners from Hattiesburg will qualify for Boston, but right now they are the ones who are already making plans to head to Massachusetts. (see Miller)

In his younger days, Barrett never figured he would wind up running miles and miles and miles.

"I was a weightlifting nut when I got out of high school, until 1988 or '89," he said. "One day, Van Lowry at the Y opened the door and said, 'You sissies need to get out here and do a manly thing and go running with me.'

"I did. We ran two miles that day. Then we went to three miles. The first time I went five miles, my feet were numb."

Running enthusiast Tony Mozingo asked Barrett to do a 15-mile training run with some of the top local runners one day, and Barrett did.

"I had never run over 10 miles until that day," he said. "I did it and got the bug. One thing led to another, then I thought, 'I'd like to run a marathon.'"

So Barrett began taking four-day weekends and heading to such places as San Diego or Washington, D.C. Two days of travel, one day of running, and a little sight-seeing in between.

Coll's journey was a little different. He ran cross-country in high school in New Orleans, then quit serious running, until the last two or three years.

"When you run a 5K, you run all out, but you can feel yourself losing (strength) and you can slow down," he said. "With a marathon, you can feel great for 24 or 25 miles and all of a sudden you feel terrible.

"I've felt that way. But I've always finished. In New Orleans I ran about a 7-minute mile for 23 miles. In the last four miles, I went from running a 7-minute mile to 11-minute miles. You can fall off that quick."

In Boston, just a few miles from the end of the race, there's something called Heartbreak Hill. For sure, Coll will be thinking of that.

Coll - the manager of communications with the Southern Miss Alumni Association - said he runs about 60 miles a week, and plans to run a marathon in December as a way of preparing for Boston.

Ryder, an administrative assistant for teacher certification at Southern Miss, ran the Boston Marathon in 2002, covering the distance in 3:06:08.

He plans to go back to fulfill a promise he made.

"The reason why I'm going is because somebody else from Hattiesburg qualified," Ryder said. "I told them I would go if they qualified. They qualified, so I'll keep my word and go."

Ryder probably has told his fellow marathoners about Boston in the form of a warning.

"You always hear about the course being so difficult, but it was more difficult than I thought it would be," Ryder said. "But as far as the actual experience of the Boston Marathon, it was everything I thought it would be."

Ryder, 32, played basketball and soccer until his junior high days. But even before then, he was no stranger to running because his parents, Hollie and Becky Ryder, were avid runners.

"My mom tells me she would take me to the track when she was doing her workouts," Ryder said. "She was a good role model. She never pushed me. It looked fun and I went out and did it."

The three runners can't take a break from training. Barrett and Coll plan to run a marathon in Baton Rouge and Ryder will run one in Las Vegas in December.

And then, it's on to Boston.