CLEARWATER -- Running a marathon for the first time in 21 months, Lisa Valentine was concerned about hitting the proverbial "wall" after about 20 miles.

She must be ahead of her training expectations. At Sunday's Florida Gulf Beaches Marathon, the big-time pain instead came at the 24-mile mark. But the 40-year-old from Tierra Verde had built a secure enough lead to coast home and win.

"You can't fake a marathon," Valentine said. "It felt good until about 24, then by 25 I had the worst side ache. You go into a shuffle, from a 6:50 (minutes per mile pace) to a 7:10.

"But overall, it was great. This is the kind of race I can recover from and get ready for Gasparilla."

Valentine's winning time of 3 hours, 2 minutes, 21 seconds was the slowest in the three-year history of the race, but the conditions hardly invited speed.

For the 7:05 a.m. start, under heavy fog, the temperature was in the mid 60s. As the sun rose on approximately 1,500 runners, the temperature creeped toward 75 degrees and the humidity kicked in.

Valentine, who won a marathon in Tucson, Ariz., in 1999 and participated in the 2000 U.S. Olympic trials, started the race not so much concerned about winning, but rather maintaining a sub-7:00 mile pace to get further acclimated to the distance, which she had not run since the 2000 Boston Marathon.

With next month's Gasparilla Distance Classic 15K and April's Boston race on the calendar, Valentine and her coach, Joe Burgasser, agreed that a moderate, consistent pace was the best plan.

The competition could not match it.

Ellen Bloome of Boca Raton came in second, almost 22 minutes behind (3:24:03).

The men's side lacked suspense as well, as Scott Colford of Logansport, Ind., won easily in a record 2:35:58.

He set a 5:50 pace for the first mile and nobody went with him, leaving him to finish the remaining 25.2 miles by himself. Edward Baker, 22, of Cambridge, Mass., took second in his first try at 26.2 miles, finishing in 2:42:10.

Richard Christiansen, 42, of Boise, Idaho, second in the inaugural Gulf Beaches race, finished third in 2:48:34.

"This is like my 15th marathon, and this is the hottest one I've ever run," said Colford, 31. "I was really pleased that the heat and humidity never really seemed to have a serious effect on me. I didn't have cramping or anything like that."

Colford, who won marathons in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Ind., flew down Saturday with a friend who had recommended Gulf Beaches late last month.

"It looked like a fun marathon," Colford said. "I'd never been to Florida, seen the Gulf of Mexico or a really big beach before, so I said, 'What the heck.' "I just wish there wouldn't have been fog along that stretch this morning. I wanted to do some sightseeing."

The race started in Coachman Park, then traveled west to Clearwater Beach. The route continued south along Gulf Boulevard to Indian Shores, then east through Seminole and returned north along Pinellas Trail.

Kevin Skehan, 41, of Stratford, Conn., won the men's masters division in 2:48:52. Cynthia Washam, 44, of Jensen Beach won the women's masters in 3:31:18.

Eleven states were represented among the 13 men's age-group winners. Area winners on the women's side were St. Petersburg's Jennifer Hutchison in the 30-34 group (3:37:26), Largo's Diane Sweetapple in the 45-49 (3:48:11), Clearwater's Kathy Dodd in the 50-54 (4:01:14) and Plant City's Amanda Center in the 55-59 group (4:30:23).

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