Karlson achieves her goal at Boston

DeVere Karlson of Fallon achieved her primary goal Monday at the 118th Boston Marathon.

Karlson, 56, Churchill County’s chief juvenile probation officer, wanted to break four hours and successfully achieved the objective as she ran the 26.2-mile distance in a time of 3 hours, 59 minutes and 15 seconds on a cool and sunny day.

“I haven’t run sub-four hours in several years, so it was a very good day,” she said. “I trained hard for this because that was the goal I had in my mind, and I got the results I wanted.”

Karlson finished with a 9:08-minute per mile pace in her sixth Boston Marathon. She finished 17,873rd overall and as the 6,787th woman in a field of more than 30,000 participants.

Karlson’s time was about nine minutes faster than 2013, when she was forced off the course with less than a quarter-mile to go after two bombs were detonated near the finish line. She ran an even-paced race, as she passed the halfway mark in 1:58:20.

“My legs were a little tired, but I felt comfortable the last six miles,” she said. “The weather conditions were very good. Even though it got a little warmer in the afternoon, as always, the people in Boston were out with their hoses to spray the runners down.”

The 2013 bombing created special attention to the Boston Marathon and added to an atmosphere that is always special anyway.

“It was incredible,” Karlson said. “At the midway point near Wellesley (College), from there on you had wall-to-wall people along the course. It was so loud, I couldn’t hear the music on my iPhone ... I finally had to take it off.”

Other Northern Nevada runners were on hand for the race, including Genoa resident Colleen Powers, who ran 3:19:40 to finish 6,375th overall and as the 896th woman. Powers, 30, was nearly six minutes faster than last year and ran progressively faster from start to finish — 47:51 for the opening 10K, 47:34 for the second, 47:28 for the third and 46:35 for the fourth (3:09:28 at 40K).

Joe Thornburg of Carson City ran 2:54:13 to finish 1,382nd overall. Kirsten Sherve of Carson City also finished in 3:43:39.

Meb Keflezighi, a 38-year-old U.S. citizen, was the overall winner in 2:08:37. Rita Jeptoo, 33, of Kenya, successfully defended her women’s title — her third at Boston since 2006 — in a personal best time of 2:18:57. Shalene Flanagan was the top American and seventh overall in a personal best time of 2:22:02.