Local grabs second at Frederick Marathon

‘‘It was very surreal, just being in the lead for so long,” Silvio said. ‘‘I was in the lead until mile 18. I was running with the leader of the half marathon until mile 8, and I passed him. That was really weird.”

He clocked in a time of 1:15:39 at the halfway point, pacing a 5:46 mile. Brian Baille, a 25-year-old from Washington was just over a minute behind him at that point. Baille overtook him around mile 18, finishing at 2:34:48.

Bethesda resident Melissa Tanner, 27, won the women’s race in 2:56:14, and was fifth overall.

Silvio was also giving a trophy for being the top Frederick County finisher.

‘‘What really helped in the first half was the support from the community,” Silvio said. ‘‘Seeing people from my church, seeing the coaches from my daughters’ swim team, seeing my neighbors out there, it really made me run faster in the first half, maybe too fast.”

He admitted that while he had the local advantage of the course being around him, he didn’t scout out the area. his first run on the course was during the race.

‘‘I should have taken advantage of that,” Silvio said. ‘‘I was thinking of driving it.”

Silvio counts a fundraiser done by his high school track team, Walt Whitman, as his first marathon. It ended up being slightly longer than the 26.2 miles of a marathon.

‘‘We made a marathon down in D.C. We ran down through the Mall and around the monuments, and we actually ended up on our high school track.”

Silvio ran the Columbus, Ohio, Marathon in 1987 with his cross country teammates from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.

Since then, he went on a 12-year break from running when he and his wife had two daughters. He started making promises to himself, that he would start running when the youngest turned 3 years old, or 5, or 8.

‘‘Finally, when she turned 8, I realized I don’t want to lay around,” Silvio said. ‘‘I started running on a treadmill in my basement. It was miserable, it was agony, but I just kept at it. And I started feeling so much better.”

Three years ago, Silvio was on cholesterol medication. When he ran, he lost 40 pounds. His cholesterol level went down. He stopped having back pains, and started getting more energy during the day.

He was realistic in his goals for the Frederick Marathon.

‘‘I was hoping to run between 2:50 and 2:55. I was thinking that if I had a good day, I could break into the 2:40s, like a 2:49,” Silvio said. ‘‘It was a fantastic day. I was hoping to place in my age group, but things worked out well for me.”

Up next for him is the second leg of the Maryland Double, with the Baltimore Marathon on Oct. 11. As for the Boston Marathon, he’s leaving his options open.

‘‘I wanted a Boston Qualifier to say that I’ve done it,” Silvio said. ‘‘I’m not planning on running Boston in 2009, but maybe 2010. So I’ll have to run this again.”

For the last six miles of the race, Baillie took over and extended his lead. It was a bold and strong move for the Washington resident, who had never run a marathon before.

Baille ran for Pennsylvania’s Haverford College, then moved to England for a year. There, he kept running with clubs.

‘‘When I got back, a lot my college friends were trying to qualify for this last year’s Olympic trials in the marathon,” Baillie said. ‘‘I got the bug, and I wanted to do it. But I wanted to take my time and get stronger. It’s been a plan for about a year.”

Baille is also worried that he may have started his attack a little too late. The 2007 Olympic marathon standards were at 2:22:00, while for 2008 they’ve been moved down to 2:19:00.

‘‘It’s a different ballgame in terms of pace and stuff, but I’m going to give it a shot,” Baillie said.

Making it more of a challenge is that Baille is moving to Illinois for a teaching job, cutting into his running time. In getting ready for a marathon, Baille preferred workouts of two hours a day.

‘‘I usually make time for running, so I’ll definitely run one next year,” he said.

Both he and Tanner won trophies and $500 as the top male and female finishers.

Of the major winners, Tanner, 27, has to be considered the experienced veteran of Frederick Marathons, despite it only being her third marathon.

Tanner first went the distance in 2006 with the Frederick Marathon, finishing second in 2:58:16. She also ran the North Central Trail Marathon in Sparks.

‘‘My mom is from Frederick County, so that was one of the reasons,” Tanner said. ‘‘I knew it was really pretty, growing up with my grandmother in the area.”

The American University graduate was cheered on by her family on Sunday, including her mother, Elizabeth Tanner of Emmitsburg.

A total of 929 people finished the marathon, and 1,844 finished the half marathon.

Adam John Sierakowski, a 20-year-old from Perry Hall, won the half marathon in 1:17:20. Tammy Slusser, a 43-year-old from Monroeville, Pa., was the top female finisher in 1:24:41.