Southeast' Heins finishes 102nd

Many runners would probably be elated with finishing 102nd overall in the prestigious Boston Marathon, but Eric Heins had bigger ambitions.

Heins, Southeast Missouri State's second-year cross country and assistant track coach, came away disappointed Monday after competing in the 109th edition of the world's oldest annual marathon.

"I was a little disappointed," said the 28-year-old Heins, who had set a pre-race goal of placing in the top 50. "I was hoping to do a lot better."

Heins covered the 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston's Back Bay in 2 hours, 40 minutes, 49 seconds. A field of 20,453 started the race, held in warm conditions as temperatures neared 70 for the start. Heins was 92nd among the nearly 13,000 male competitors.

Ethiopia's Hailu Negussie was the overall winner in 2:11:45, while Kenya's Catherine Ndereba captured the women's title in 2:25:13.

Heins easily won last year's St. Louis Marathon in 2:25:42 -- which qualified him for Boston -- and he hoped to approach that time Monday, which would have given him a strong shot at the top 50. But he believes a bout with pneumonia several weeks ago took more of a toll than he thought it would.

"I was hoping to be able to run better than what I did in St. Louis, but I think getting sick a couple of weeks ago took it out of me," Heins said. "I started the race and had a little bit of a sideache right away, and at six miles my legs were hurting, which I didn't expect."

Even taking into account Boston's rugged course, Heins said, "I thought running about the same time I did in St. Louis was realistic, because St. Louis is a pretty hilly course. I should have done better, but it just didn't happen."

Still, Heins said Monday's experience was one he'll likely never forget.

"It was a great experience. Overall, it was a really good trip and it was a thrill," he said. "For the entire 26.2 miles big crowds were lining the streets. It was pretty impressive. I had seen it on TV and heard about it, but to experience it in person was something."

Heins said prior to the Boston Marathon that, if everything went well, he would proceed with his plans of attempting to qualify for the Olympic marathon trials in 2008. The Olympic trials standard is 2:22.

After Monday's race, he said, "I'm still thinking about the trials, but it takes a lot of time, and it takes me out of my kids at Southeast, which is my main focus. I'll just have to see about it."