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These days Julia Kirtland, 43, is working as a massage therapist in Portland and competing in triathlons. "I (compete) for fun," she says. "I don't worry about placing. I do the best I can, but I don't train seriously."

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Kristin Barry, left, and Sheri McCarthy-Piers, here closing in on the finish line at the 2008 Sea Dogs' Mother's Day Race at Hadlock Field, which McCarthy-Piers won, are among the top contenders to win the Maine women's title.

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Julia Kirtland was the top women's finisher in the first Beach to Beacon. Her time of 34:56 is still the course record

MAINE WOMEN RUNNERS TO WATCH: 

• Kristin Barry, Scarborough (Bib No. 121) 
• Sheri McCarthy-Piers, Falmouth (122) 
• Carry Buterbaugh, South Portland (123) 
• Jenna Krajewski, China (124) 
• Erin Lane, Yarmouth (125) 
• Mary Pardi, Falmouth (126) 
• Anne Martin, Auburn (127) 
• Suzanne Hussey Ray, Saco (128) 
• Andrea Giddings, South Portland (129)

Julia Kirtland will not be running in the 11th TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K race. Her days of competitive road racing are done.

But she will still be very much a part of the race Saturday morning.

Kirtland, you see, still holds the course record for the Maine women's race, a time of 34 minutes, 56 seconds that was set in the inaugural race in 1998.

It is the only winning time from that first race that still holds as the course record, a fact that really doesn't surprise many folks.

"Julia had some great running years," said race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson. "She really was the best runner on the scene for several years."

Kirtland, now 43, won the Maine women's division in each of the race's first three years. During that time, she was regarded as one of the state's -- perhaps the nation's -- top distance runners. She was the U.S. national women's marathon champion in 1997, competing in the world championships that year. She raced in two U.S. Olympic women's marathon Trials, finishing 14th in 1996, 23rd in 2000.

"She was amazing," said Kristin Barry of Scarborough, one of the favorites for this year's Beach to Beacon Maine women's division. "She was just very strong. I remember that first year. I tried to go out with her and ran with her for a mile and then significantly fell off. She's just a great runner."

These days, any running Kirtland does is in a triathlon. After giving up competitive running, she took up triathlons three years ago. She sees it as a new challenge in her new life.

"It's just at a different level than running," she said. "I do it for fun, I don't worry about placing. I do the best I can, but I don't train seriously."

Kirtland's priorities changed right after her divorce in 2001. She continued to run -- "I did the New York City marathon in 2001, right after the (terrorist attacks), and it was very emotional, it was pretty amazing," she said -- but noticed her energy and passion had waned considerably.

While training for the 2003 national championships in St. Louis -- with the prospects of qualifying for the 2004 Olympic Trials -- Kirtland decided that she had had enough.

"I just didn't have the passion for it," she said. "And when you don't have the passion for it I just lost it and I didn't care. If you want to qualify for the Olympics, you sort of have to care.

"I think a big thing that happened was that my life had changed and I couldn't keep going the way it was," she said. "I started from scratch."

She continued to run in some local road races, then got a job at Midcoast Multisport, a triathlon store in Brunswick. While there, she caught the triathlon bug.

"It's a new challenge," she said. "I found that I like cycling. And I'm an OK swimmer. But getting used to swimming and dealing with a lot of people in the water and the waves, it's a challenge."

These days she works as a massage therapist in Portland's Old Port at Core 3 Massage. She trains when she wants to, or, as she said, "as it fits into my life.

"I sort of like being in the middle of the pack and doing what I want to do that day," she said.

But understand this, Kirtland has retained some of her competitive nature. She looks to improve in each triathlon she competes in, especially in the cycling part. She just isn't sure how much more she wants to put into it.

"I am definitely competitive," she said. "When I'm in a race, especially the cycling and running, I'll look ahead and say, 'Hey, I want to get past that person.' So you want to get faster, not slower. And that means training more. If I want to do that, it will happen."

But her job will come first. "I like it, finally finding something I really like," she said.

Not that Kirtland has any regrets about her running career. It was, and remains, a very important part of her life. Much like the Beach to Beacon record.

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