MATT AND ALLISON EIDINGER, Sammamish, Wash.

The Eidingers will be visiting family on their trip to Raleigh. Allison Eidinger grew up here and graduated from N.C. State University. Her parents still live in the area, so she and Matt will fly out a week early for a visit. Matt, who was stationed at Fort Bragg for four years, says he also is familiar with the territory.

He'll be running the half-marathon, while Allison will go the full distance in her quest to run 26.2 miles in all 50 states.

"We didn't really start training until August," he said.

LILY HILL, Shepherdstown, W.Va.

The City of Oaks Marathon could be called the Hill Family Running Extravaganza. Lily Hill has a daughter in Raleigh, Marian Bergdolt, who has been a competitive runner for years and will take on the marathon -- her eighth. Marian's twin sister, Liz Hass-Hill, lives near Cleveland, Ohio, and will come to town to run the half-marathon. Liz's husband, Steve, will walk the half-marathon. And Lily, who is 76, will participate in a race for the first time, walking the half-marathon.

"I have been cheering for all these people for years and years," Lily Hill said, "so it will be interesting to be out there."

The family affair will be rounded out with Marian's husband, Rob, and his father-in-law looking after all the children and dashing from one spot in the race to another to cheer on the Hill clan.

Lily Hill said she has been training all summer for the long walk, getting weekly schedules from marathon training guru Hal Higdon.

"This Hal Higdon, he doesn't make it that much of a strain for me," she said. "So far I feel good about it."

OLE HOLSTI, Chapel Hill

Holsti usually runs two or three marathons a year, including Boston -- the nation's last marathon that requires a qualifying time to enter. A political scientist and professor emeritus at Duke University, Holsti is 74.

"This will be my 29th marathon," he said. "Eight years ago, I realized that I was not going to get personal records in shorter races anymore, so I focused on the longer ones. Endurance lasts longer than speed."

Holsti, a runner in high school, said he abandoned the sport in his younger years because "if you put on a pair of shorts and went running in the streets, the cops would want to have a talk with you." His daughter got him back into running about 25 years ago, when he was 49. He said he ran the earlier Raleigh marathons and is glad to see the event return to the area.

"One of the things I like about marathons is that finishing is its own reward."