"Our greatest honor is not that we never fall down, but that we pick ourselves up again each time we fall. This is so important in life. We should never be afraid to go after something we want for fear of failure. We all need the courage to try, we may not get there straight away, sometimes we may never get there, but we must never be afraid to give all that we can to go after our goals and dreams. " - Paula Radcliffe

Women's 10 Mile Championship

With a 7:05 a.m. start, the Medtronic TC 10 Mile field managed to stay ahead of the weather that would plague the marathon, providing more favorable conditions for the USA Women's 10 Mile Championship with an invitation-only women's wave start.

As anticipated Goucher and hometown favorite Katie McGregor (St. Louis Park, Minn.) made their way to the front early. Going through an aid station near three miles, Goucher went to take water and unexpectedly found herself alone in the lead but maintained the tempo to carry on to a 1:48 win and a new course record.

McGregor easily took second in 55:04 and Kelly Liljeblad (Niwot, Colo.) rounded out the top-three in 57:06.

The championship offered a total of $25,000 in prize money with Goucher earning $10,000 for the win.

Liljeblad, 35, a runner and Ironman triathlete from Boulder, Colo., overtook early leader Nadezhda Tuptova of Russia at Mile 16 to win in 2:47:13.

It was bittersweet for Liljeblad, who missed qualifying for the Olympic trials in Boston in April by 13 seconds. The 2005 Houston Marathon winner, plagued by foot injuries, returned to running this past year to try and make the sub-2:47 qualifying standard.

Tuptova, bothered by the humidity since arriving last week in Gainesville, her training base, was second in 2:47:13.

"It's always nice to win but I missed my No. 1 goal today, which was to qualify for the Olympic trials," Liljeblad said. "I saw the clock and I started fighting but my legs just wouldn't go any faster. I was trying and once I saw it turn at 2:47:01, I said, 'Well, I won the race,' and then I switched over because you can't be a crybaby.

"I was really hurting … at Mile 20 my quads started to give out really bad. I had to really dig deep. I have been sick for a month and wasn't able to train like I wanted. I just enjoyed the fact that I won."

Early in the race, Liljeblad ran with Miami's Julia Stamps Mallon, 29, who was also trying to qualify for the trials but finished fifth in 2:55:06.