BOSTON – The atmosphere was unlike anything Kristin Barry had ever experienced in a marathon, or any race for that matter.

As the Scarborough runner, the 73rd to finish Sunday’s Olympic Marathon Trials, approached the finish line, the crowd on Boylston Street was just as enthused as they had been just under 40 minutes earlier when Deena Kastor blew kisses and broke the tape in victory.

“The crowds in general on most of the course were incredible, thick and tons of people that I knew which was great,” said Barry, who finished in 2 hours, 46 minutes, 58 seconds.

“It was really inspiring and encouraging.”

When the lead runners started coming in, the crowds lining Boylston were about 20 to 25 people deep.

Sheri Piers of Falmouth, Barry’s friend and training partner, was the top Maine finisher in an impressive 16th with a seven-minute personal best time of 2:38:46.

Piers’ first goal was to crack the 2:40 barrier, but she didn’t expect to finish in the top 20.

“Really all I wanted to have done was to break 2:40, to do both was definitely a dream,” said the former Saint Joseph’s College basketball player.

Coming into the race, Barry had a huge gut instinct that her training partner was going to have an extraordinary run.

“I couldn’t be happier for her, I knew she was going to do something big,” Barry said. “I knew top 20 was a big goal for her, the fact that she did it in a 7-minute PR is incredible.”

As for Barry’s aspirations, she was aiming to break her personal record of 2:45:47, her qualifying time from the Philadelphia Marathon last fall, but the final 6-mile loop around Boston and across the Mass. Ave bridge into Cambridge was a struggle.

“After mile 21 my legs started to cramp really badly, I was trying to get in fluids as much as I could and hoping I could kind of rebound but I didn’t so it was a struggle, the last 5 miles,” Barry said.

Barry, who has run two Boston Marathons, found the city loop course to be a tad more runner-friendly than the traditional 26.2-mile route from Hopkinton to the Hub.

“The biggest difference I would say is [there are] none of the steep downhills at the beginning,” she said.

Piers added, “the loop course was spectator-friendly and allowed our families to see us many times. I don’t know if I could’ve made it without their support.”

The Westbrook High School boys cross-country coach felt strong throughout the entire race.

“Probably when I got down to the last loop I thought boy, I don’t know if I can make it one more of these loops,” Piers said. “But the crowd support was definitely a huge factor.”

Piers thought she was in a dream when she strode toward the finish on Boylston Street and heard the roars of the crowd.

“It was almost like a surreal kind of feeling, almost like its not real, are all these people yelling for me right now?” she said. “It’s amazing how loud it was.”

Emily LeVan of Wiscasset finished 67th in 2:45:45, but perhaps the more amazing story here is that LeVan’s “Two Trials” fundraiser reached its goal of raising over $52,400 for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program.

LeVan’s four-year old daughter, Maddie, is battling leukemia, and it was easy to see that the three-time Beach to Beacon 10K champ was enjoying herself as she smiled and waved to a supportive throng of well-wishers on Boylston before starting her last lap.

“She had tremendous support out there, it was great,” said Barry, who was running close to LeVan throughout the race.

“Tons of people who don’t even know her heard about her story. There was tons of support, which was great.”

One more thing that Barry will cherish forever is running in the same race as Joan Benoit Samuelson, who finished her final competitive marathon the way she did in winning the 1979 Boston Marathon – donning a Red Sox cap and smiling and waving to the adoring crowd.

“I tried to make sure while running to consciously take it all in and remember it as much as I could,” she said. “It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, not only to be in the trials but for it to be in Boston and Joan’s last [competitive marathon].”

As for Piers, she was happy that Mother Nature finally blessed New England with perfect running weather after a brutal winter.

“What made it even better was the weather, we just didn’t catch a break this winter,” she said. “We were very fortunate that we had the weather that we did.”

Penny McDermott, a Farmington native and University of Southern Maine graduate now residing in Corvallis, Ore., clocked a 2:49:32.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

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