Photo by Bill Green Last year’s Frederick Marathon winner, Michael Wardian, will push his infant child in a stroller this year, hoping to set a Guinness Book record.

Most of the top athletes running this year's marathon come from nearby metropolitan areas.

"We're very excited we're drawing athletes from the greater Washington area," Ridgway said. "It makes the race more exciting. Hopefully we'll see new course records."

The race has drawn several elite runners who also run ultra marathons, distances beyond the 26.2 mile marathon.

The men's course record is 2 hours, 26 minutes, 42 seconds. Michael Wardian, of Arlington, Va., set the record last year. Wardian has since qualified for the 2008 Olympic marathon trials. He returns to Frederick this year, but will be pushing his infant child in a baby stroller. He hopes to break the Guinness Book of World Records record for fastest marathon while pushing a baby stroller. He would like to complete the course in 2:30.

The women's Frederick Marathon record, 2:56:57, was set by Susan Graham-Gray, of Greencastle, Pa., in 2005. She is not expected to be in the race this year.

Elite runners in this year's marathon are Christopher Zieman, 35, of Chapel Hill, N.C., Birhanu Wakuw of Washington, and Jenn Shelton, of Virginia Beach, Va.

Zieman hopes to qualify for the Olympic trials. For that, he needs to beat 2:22. His best previous marathon time is 2:20:54. Wakuw finished third in the Miami Half-Marathon, and ran 2:36 on a windy, rainy day at the Boston Marathon. He is from Ethiopia.

Shelton, 23, is hoping for a 2:49. She is an ultra-marathoner who won the women's race at the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon in Mexico, a 47-mile race. Shelton also set a world record for women in a 100-mile trail run. She did that while winning the women's race of the Rocky Raccoon 100-Mile Trail Run in 14 hours, 57 minutes. She was third overall.

Frederick has many runners who are not elite, but do very well in their age groups.

Lisa Hickman, 40, of Jefferson , ran the 2005 Frederick Marathon in 3:39. It was enough for her to win her age group, however. If Sunday's weather is cool, she'd like to beat her time from '05.

"The heat really affects me," said Hickman, who ran the Boston Marathon the past two years, finishing in 3:42 in 2006 and in 3:40 on April 16. She plans to run it again next year.

She starts marathon training 18 weeks before the race.

"When I'm not training, I'll do 25 miles a week, with no runs longer than about 10 miles," she said. She slowly increases that during training, doing weekend runs of 12 to 20 miles.

Her weekday runs are usually 6 miles. During the week, she fits in one session of speed work on a local track. "It trains your legs to turn over faster," she said. "The long runs build your endurance."

Hickman, a mother of three, trains with a neighbor, Joe Harris, who often runs the JFK 50 Mile in Boonsboro. He is hoping for a 3:35, and she will run with him for at least the first half of the race. Tradition dictates most runners go out slow and speed up at the end, but Hickman said she does better if she starts fast and finishes with what she has left.

Marilyn Portner, 40, of Frederick , ran her first Frederick Marathon last year in 3:32, with a bathroom stop. She then ran Boston in April, and finished in 3:44. The cold, windy weather was not to her liking.

She started running after a divorce. "I ran in high school, but I wasn't very committed," she said. "Running when you get older is different than running when you were in high school. You have different reasons. My children are my biggest fans. I like to show them if you put your mind to something, you can do it."

Portner, a pharmacist, trains mostly by herself. It's her time to be alone, and she enjoys it. She does her long runs during the week when her two children are in school. She does some runs on the treadmill at the YMCA or the Y's indoor track, but she prefers to run outside.

Portner ran her first marathon on antibiotics. She felt sick the night before the race and went to the local Immediate Care Center. By the next morning she was feeling much better. She finished 15th for all women and 115th overall.

She doesn't do many other races. "I get nervous before getting to the starting line," she said. "Once I start, the pressure's off."

Kevin Sayers, 48, of Frederick , has a personal best marathon time of 3:15. He will run in his fifth Frederick Marathon Sunday, and hopes to finish in 3:25. Last year, he was the highest Frederick -area finisher in his age group and was 80th overall.

Sayers, the race director for the Catoctin 50 kilometer, a trail run in August, loves to run the local races. He has run every Frederick Marathon.

He also has run 10 JFK 50 Mile runs. This year he will try to complete his 10th Vermont Long Trail 100 Mile Run.

He likes the Frederick Marathon because the route goes by his house on Kline Boulevard. He will hug his son and kiss his wife as he runs by, and his neighbors will cheer for him.