Graham Peck might be forming a habit.
The 25-year-old Canton resident ran the Boston Marathon for the second time this past Monday and, just like the first time last year, was the fastest Maryland man to finish the 26.2-mile race from Hopkinton to downtown Boston.
Peck finished in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 9 seconds — the 40th man to finish and 45th runner overall — and was one of two Maryland runners to finish in the top 50 in their gender division. Alex Wang, a graduate of Centennial and Maryland who moved to Baltimore last year, was the fastest woman from Maryland (and 43rd female overall), finishing in 2:50:52.
Wang, 23, won the women's division of the Baltimore marathon last year in 2:58:41.
If going by time, Peck ran a race almost identical to his first in 2014, finishing just a few ticks quicker than the 2:26:36 he posted the first time he crossed the famous finish line on Boylston Street.
But the accomplished marathoner – his personal best was 2:25:40 in Chicago – said this time the feeling was very different.
"The first 16 miles in 2014, I was right at 5:30 a mile and ... I was thinking 'that's very fast for me, I might get into trouble,'" Peck said Thursday. "This year, I was kind of clicking off the same thing but I knew I felt comfortable doing it and I knew this was in my wheel house.
"It was kind of nice knowing how big the four hills in Newton are. Last year, I went in blind."
Peck said he ran in a pack of about eight runners for the first 16 miles, then broke off and "ran my own race." He said a friend watching from the edge of the course saw him at mile 18 and told him he looked great. He felt great, too.
"I had a huge grin on my face," Peck said.
The race was welcome relief. He suffered a stress reaction to his femur — an injury short of a fracture — while consistently running about 90 miles a week to train for the JFK 50-mile race last summer and fall.
After running in the USA Marathon Championships in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 5, Peck stopped training for the 50-miler and didn't put on his running shoes again until Christmas Day.
Missing Boston was never a consideration. In terms of competition, Peck said London might be the only other spring marathon he'd consider.
"I had such a good time at Boston when I did it in 2014," Peck said. "There were just so many people to run with there. I don't know what other spring marathon you would do."
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