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The anxiety, shared by thousands of runners this week, evaporated as the confetti flew and a horseback-riding duo signaled the start of the 38th Wellstone's Dallas White Rock Marathon on Sunday.

Heavy cloud cover grounded the Marine Corps jets that were scheduled to stream across at the race start. But fortunately, the predicted thunderstorms bypassed downtown Dallas. Light rain only minimally inconvenienced the 12,066 runners who finished the marathon, half marathon and relays.

"There was a storm in Irving that might have stopped the race just a few miles west of us," said Chuck Dannis, chairman of the board of trustees for the event. "Are we lucky or what? All the storms went to the east or the west."

Strong winds and cool temperatures – 47 degrees at the marathon start – resulted in significantly slower marathon times than last year.

The dramatic shift in the weather forecast this week had organizers scrambling.

Early in the week, when forecasts called for highs near 80 with high humidity, organizers secured extra ice and cups.

By Saturday, they were hunting for heaters to treat potential hypothermia. Bill Borowski, the coordinator of athletic training outreach for Baylor SportsCare, said approximately 15 runners were treated for symptoms of hypothermia.

But the cold weather did not discourage spectators, who lined the final straightaway along North Houston Street two- to three-people deep.

"Clearly, this was the most [spectators] we've had," Dannis said.

The wind, especially around the lake, proved the toughest challenge for most.

"It was very freezing, and my legs couldn't run," Women's runner-up Firaya Sultanova of Russia said through interpreter Tatiana Pozdnyakova.

Kenya's Emily Samoei caught Sultanova around the halfway point and went on to win the women's marathon in 2 hours, 35 minutes, 25 seconds. Her time was 5:30 slower than last year's record.

The lead men stayed in a pack through the half, as predicted. There were still six men in contention for the title through Mile 24. Up to that point, there had been suspense regarding the $25,000 Cooper Complete Gender Challenge.

The women were given an 18-minute, 35-second head start, and Samoei had her heart set on the prize. After running with Sultanova for a couple miles, she decided to go faster.

"I thought: 'The men are coming,'" she said. "I decided to go my own way."

Samoei pushed herself for 10 miles. But her hamstring began cramping at Mile 23, and she slowed down.

"Then, at Mile 24-point something, the men arrived, and I said, 'It's gone,'" Samoei said. "I was thinking about that big check. But it's OK."

Samoei still won the race, earned $10,000 and set a personal best.

James Koskei of Kenya, the men's marathon winner in 2:15:09, had trained for months to run 26.2 miles in under 2:10. He didn't run as fast as he had hoped Sunday, but he was excited to capture his first marathon title. He had planned to run fast at Chicago on Oct. 7, but a blister forced him to drop out late in the race.

SONYA N. HEBERTS / DMN

Runners start their journey during the 38th Wellstone's White Rock Marathon.

He returned to Kenya, regrouped and focused his training on Dallas.

The men ran as a pack of eight through the half-marathon point. The pack shrank to six and then four, when the men overtook Samoei.

Koskei stayed with the leaders, confident he could pull out the victory.

"I knew I was faster than the other guys," he said. "I wasn't thinking about the women."

The half marathon fields were stronger and deeper than in recent years. Ridouane Harroufi of Morocco outsprinted runner-up Kimutai Kiplimo of Kenya in the last 500 yards to win in 1:03:03. Kiplimo was three seconds behind. They were only seconds slower than year's 1:02:59 winning time.

In the women's half, Jacquline Nyetipei of Kenya clocked a 1:11:45, more than two minutes faster than Rose Kosgei's winning time of 1:14:19 last year. Kosgei finished second this year but improved her time to 1:13:22.Inside

4,019: Number of marathon finishers

5,172: Number of half marathon finishers

575: Number of marathon relay teams that finished

11: Years that the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children has been the Wellstone's Dallas White Rock Marathon beneficiary.

$750,000: Amount donated by the marathon and its participants to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital.

$25,000: Amount awarded to the Cooper Complete Race to Victory award winner

1,500: Number of cones positioned along the course.

150,000: Number of water cups

140,000: Number of Gatorade cups

5,000: Gallons of Gatorade

1,000: Pounds of ice with more on standby

216: Number of Port-o-potty units along the marathon, half marathon and relay courses.

31: Number of different locations port-o-potties were placed on the courses.

MEN

1971–Rick Richardson, 2:38:09

1972–Paul Hoffman, 2:23:18

1973–Wayne Comer, 2:37:45

1974–Terry Ziegler, 2:19:18

1975–Terry Ziegler, 2:26:07

1976 Feb.–Don Kennedy, 2:25:59

1976 Dec.–Jeff Wells, 2:15:11

1977–John Lodwick, 2:16:43

1978–Tom Marino, 2:18:55

1979–Kyle Heffner, 2:14:30

1980–Robert Wallace, 2:15:19

1981–David Miley, 2:16:13

1982–John Lodwick, 2:12:18

1983–Kyle Heffner, 2:13:48

1984–Bruce McKay, 2:20:20

1985–Ed Swiatocha, 2:17:42

1986–Ed Swiatocha, 2:22:40

1987–Mike Moloto, 2:22:42

1988–Andres Espinosa Perez, 2:16:13

1989–Andres Espinosa Perez, 2:16:19

1990–Jose Pena , 2:24:52

1991–Jim Sterling , 2:25:53

1992–J.P. Worchester , 2:21:08

1993–Victor De Jesus Diaz, 2:17:23

1994–Juan Carlos Chavez, 2:19:41

1995–Victor De Jesus Diaz , 2:16:03

1996–Gregorio Romo , 2:30:57

1997–Emilio Gonzalez, 2:26:06

1998–William Moore, 2:20:37

1999–Wayne Strohman, 2:24:08

2000–Joel Ibarra , 2:26:27

2001–Joel Ibarra , 2:27:24

2002–Ernesto Caballero, 2:33:12.10

2003–Nephat Kinyaniui , 2:16:27

2004–Elly Rono, 2:14:01

2005–Pavel Andreyev, 2:15:24

2006–Moses Kororia, 2:12:04

2007–James Koskei, 2:15:09

WOMEN

1971–Annabelle Corboy , 4:12:25

1972–Terry Stransky , 3:49:29

1973–Patti Price , 4:27:45

1974–Kathy Loper, 3:13:48

1975–Kathy Loper, 3:00:54

1976 Feb.–Dorothy Doolittle, 2:53:43

1976 Dec.–Jean Ohly , 3:07:26

1977–Marianne Pugh , 2:56:55

1978–Karen Bridges, 2:48:36

1979–Tony Bernard , 2:47:31

1980–Martha Sartain , 2:41:14

1981–Julie Brown , 2:33:39

1982–Carol Urish , 2:47:21

1983–Sue Moen , 2:49:54

1984–Karen Miller, 2:58:04

1985–Carol Beck , 2:49:42

1986–Hope Fullwood , 2:55:37

1987–Charlene Soby , 2:55:45

1988–Martha Sartain Ashley, 2:45:30

1989–Lisa Presedo, 2:41:47

1990–Jenni L. Peters, 2:48:04

1991–Peggy Murphy , 2:46:39

1992–Mary Level Menton , 2:48:59

1993–Sonia Betancourt , 2:39:23

1994–Roxi Erickson , 2:43:28

1995–Alevtina Naoumova , 2:39:40

1996–Shannon Compton , 2:58:34

1997–Ena MacPherson , 3:07:21

1998–Sheila Carmody , 3:04:34

1999–Lori Stich , 2:52:44

2000–Riva Rahl , 2:54:20

2001–Dana Bullard , 2:59:00

2002–Claudia Olivares , 3:02:28.40

2003–Lioudmila Kortchaguina, 2:37:06

2004–Liza Hunter-Galvan, 2:38:24

2005–Lioudmila Kortchaguina, 2:30:03

2006–Svetlana Ponomarenko, 2:29:55

2007–Emily Samoei, 2:35:25