Bob Kokko of Amherst gets a hug from his wife Gail, about 200 yards from the finish line. Gail was a volunteer.

Deb Miner of Brookline ran in her first BAA Marathon, while Stan Vancelette completed his 32nd consecutive Boston, and 112th marathon overall.

Most of the thousands of runners who competed on Patriot's Day were middle-of-the-packers, in some cases back-of-the-packers. But virtually every local runner who ran in last week's BAA Marathon would not have traded the experience for anything.

While Robert Cheruiyot and Dire Tune made the headlines, New Hampshire was well represented. Cheruiyot, of Kenya, won his fourth BAA in 2:07.46. On the women's side, Tune, of Ethiopia, beat Russian Alevtina by two seconds in the closest woman's finish ever, finishing in 2:25.25.

Brandon Newbould of Dover was the first New Hampshire resident to finish, in 2:31.51, while Cathy O'Brien of Durham, the first female, finished in 2:59.21. Others did well.

Ian Seeney, 27, of Merrimack was the fourth New Hampshire runner to cross the finish line. His 2:42.24 placed him 208th in a field that numbered more than 20,000. Seeney said

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he was aiming for a 2:45 finish.

Marc Antoine of Amherst was running the race for the first time. He overcame an admittedly slow start to come in under the three-hour mark, finishing in 2:52:38.

Other area runners coming in under three hours included Adrian Wong of Merrimack (2:52:33) and Michael Karthas II of Londonderry (2:53:36). The first male Nashua runner to finish was 34-year-old Frank Pilhofer at 3:04:07. The first female from Nashua was Karen Long, in 3:28:50.

Here are some of the competitors' stories.

FIVE OFF GOAL: Deb Miner of Brookline, who said her goal was four hours, finished her first marathon in 4:05. Miner, 32, has been running for 15 years. Her longest race before this was the Eastern States 20-miler in March, a race that runs from Kittery, Maine, to Salisbury, Mass. Miner developed a blister in that race, but she ran through it in Boston. "This was the biggest challenge of my running career. It was a great day," said Miner, who plans to run shorter, local races this summer.

Last fall, she was the first female to finish in Brookline's annual 5K road race. She's also run the Apple Fest race in Hollis, and the 7.6-mile Mt. Washington run twice. "I'm looking forward to defending my title in Brookline this fall," Miner said.

INTERNAL DIFFICULTIES: Robert Kokko, 61, of Amherst has run in the last eight BAA marathons. His personal best is 4:10. Running with a cold he hasn't been able to shake, Kokko finished Boston in 5:27.28 last week. "Mechanically I felt good. The biggest issue this year was stomach problems at about mile 18, at Cleveland Circle," he said. Kokko, who often runs with his two sons, 19 and 25, and trained for Boston by running 50 miles per week, plans on sticking to shorter local races the rest of this summer.

"I run off and on during the year, but nothing compares to Boston. The crowds, the volunteers are great, the medical people; it's always great running Boston," he said.

NEXT STOP, CHICAGO: Greg Hallerman, 39, of Hollis finished his third BAA and 10th marathon overall in 3:09.36, which placed him 2,360th in the field. He said he was hoping for a sub-3:10 finish and got it. "I didn't expect it would be so warm. The sun came out quickly, but I stayed on pace all the way," said Hallerman, whose marathon personal best is 2:58 at the Bay State Marathon in Lowell in 2007.

He said the sun beat down on at the Newton Hills, and after the run a deep sunburn hurt worse than his legs. "But the crowds were phenomenal the whole way. They keep you going," said Hallerman, who plans to run the Chicago marathon this fall.

32 AND COUNTING: Then there is Stanley Vancelette of Amherst. At 71, Vancelette toed the line in Hopkinton last week for the 31st consecutive year. Exactly 6 hours, 27 minutes and 35 seconds later, he crossed the finish line in Boston. "This was probably the worse marathon I've even run," said Vancelette, who has now completed 112 marathons since he began running the distance in 1975.

Vancelette's marathon personal best is 2:53, though he admits "that was a long time ago." Last week he pulled a muscle in his upper leg, which slowed him down considerably over the second half of the course.

Over his running career, he has run 14 Cape Cod marathons, a dozen Clarence Demar Marathons in Keene, and races in New York, Miami, Maine, Alabama and California. He has no definite plans for this summer. "I run when I feel like it," said Vancelette, who competes in a lot of local races.

"But it's fun being outside, running. Boston is great race, and just getting out there is better than not running at all."