Notebook | Pair of sisters get crowned before the Rock 'n' Roll marathon

The race hadn't begun, and already Shirley Shaw and Denise Boehle were crowned.

The two sisters wore tiaras and pink feather boas in the staging area as they prepared to start the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon on Saturday.

They took off the boas before the race — after all, you don't want to inhale a loose feather on the course — but the tiaras stayed on.

"They're weightless," said Boehle, who lives in Redding, Calif.

The sisters ran Saturday's marathon together, their third in the past three months. They ran Boston in April and San Diego four weeks ago.

They ran the first Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego in 1998. In fact, they were among the first 60 runners to register for that event.

Saturday's race was Boehle's 26th marathon, and Shaw's 56th. That means Shaw's son, Chad Huber, better get ready to run a marathon of his own. The Oregon State student told his mom if she ran 60 marathons by age 60 that he'd run one with her. She's 59 and a sure bet to reach that goal.

As for the racing outfits, did the sisters dress alike growing up?

"No," said Boehle. "She wouldn't even let me wear her clothes."

Seattle's sights

The race course took runners across Lake Washington on the I-90 bridge, with Mount Rainier looming prominently to the south. It also included a view of Puget Sound.

"It highlighted the city," said Steve Supkoff of North Bend, who finished the marathon in 3 hours, 34 minutes, 27 seconds. "Anybody coming from out of Seattle would get a great taste of the city."

Supkoff is a member of the Marathon Maniacs, a group for which the description "die-hard" is not quite sufficient. It's an organization with more than 1,500 members that include a level of membership for people who've run marathons on consecutive weekends. That one-star designation is actually the lowest level. A beginner, so to speak.

The Marathon Maniacs wear yellow singlets, and as many as 150 members of the group were estimated to have participated in Saturday's race.

Chris Warren, who is officially member No. 2, finished in 2:59:21, the first time in almost five years he's finished in under 3 hours.

May Cheng of Mercer Island is a member, No. 167 to be exact. She had one comment on the scenic course.

"Unfortunately, you can't avoid the hills," she said.

Nope. Not in Seattle you can't.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com