While the remark was made partly in jest, Magdalena Boulet-Lewy appeared to be doing exactly that when the field of 161 got underway on Sunday. By the end of that first mile, she had left the entire field in arrears and built her lead to nearly two minutes by halfway. Was that a planned strategy, or was she merely running her own race?

Boulet-Lewy said later, “Going into the race I planned to run 5:40s (per mile) pace. I knew I had to stick to my plan. In the first and second mile, I was surprised that I was out there by myself. Before the race, my coach and my husband said to me that the race wasn't going to come to me, that I had to go and get it. So that's what I did.”

So was she worried to be out there all alone on the scenic Charles River course leading the Women’s Olympic Trials Marathon, with the top female marathoners in the country hot on her heels? Hardly. After all, after having left her native communist Poland and been separated from her family at age 16, she was not about to fret too much about marathon tactics.