Waitz's husband, Jack, runs in race again

With race officials dedicating Sunday's New York City Marathon to Grete Waitz, the nine-time champion who died of cancer in April, Waitz's husband, Jack, flew in from his native Norway to run. At 57, he was attempting his seventh New York race and -- he guessed -- his 15th marathon overall.

"It's amazing,'' he said after finishing in 3:50.41. "It was a week ago that I couldn't run at all because of a calf injury. If Grete had been around, she would have told me not to run today. During the run, I didn't think I should finish, but I wanted to try. But I asked her to take care of me, and she did.''

Waitz marveled again at the growth and organization of the event. When his wife first ran it in 1978, he said, "She asked Fred , 'Lebow, where am I going? Where am I going?' It was great today. I met a lot of nice people.''

Keeping his promise

The wheelchair champions were 41-year-old Masazumi Soejima of Japan in the men's division (1:31.41) and 25-year-old American Amanda McGrory of Champaign, Ill., in the women's race (1:50.24). Soejima said that before he left Japan, he "promised the people of northern Japan I was going to win. And I kept my promise.''

First familyThe fastest married couple: Ethiopia's Gebre Gebremariam, 27, the men's defending champion, who finished fourth in 2:08, and his wife, Werknesh Kidane, 29, 13th among the women (2:33.08).

Report: Mess seeks aidAmong the celebrity runners who finished: Olympic speedskating champ Apolo Ohno, 3:25.14; former softball Olympian Jennie Finch, 4:05.26; hockey star Mark Messier, 4:14.21, and actor and entertainment/TV personality Mario Lopez, 4:23.31.

Messier reportedly needed medical assistance after the race. His vital signs were taken and he recovered with the help of fluids.

Peña forced out

Edison Peña, the 35-year-old Chilean who was among 33 miners trapped for 69 days before a dramatic rescue, attempted to run his second NYC Marathon since that event. Though Peña finished last year in just under six hours, he dropped out Sunday at 11 miles, bothered by a left knee injury.