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HIGH POINT -- The best part about winning a marathon in your hometown? You get to sleep off the pain in your own bed.

"A good hot bath's gonna go first," David Duggan said after taking the men's crown at the second annual North Carolina Marathon. "And I'll probably take a jog to get some of the soreness out. Just a mile or two."

Duggan, a 42-year-old assistant track coach at Wake Forest, was one of an estimated 2,000 runners to compete in the event, which moved from Greensboro to High Point this year and featured a marathon, half-marathon, 5K and kids' race.

The combination of a cool, overcast morning and flatter terrain made for slightly less punishment on runners. Duggan's winning time of 2:45:27 was seven minutes faster than last year's winner.

Danielle Hochschild, 27, of Raleigh won the women's race in 3:14:06. The first person to cross the finish line was Olympic gold medalist and running icon Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the half marathon in a time of 1:21:04 two weeks short of her 52nd birthday.

Samuelson, who as a college student ran a record time in the 1983 Boston Marathon before winning the first Olympic women's marathon the following year in Los Angeles, was the featured speaker at the race's official pasta dinner Friday night.

Duggan finished not long afterward, quietly shuffling in by himself a few minutes after one of the participants in the kids race lost his lunch near the finish line. Duggan, who said it was his first marathon victory in 12 tries, finished almost four minutes ahead of the next closest competitor, Nick Liversedge of Burlington.

"I was surprised nobody tried to come with me," Duggan said. "My attitude was, I'm going to win it if I'm able."

There were about a third more runners than in last year's race, which was the first in Greensboro in 14 years. Race officials announced the move to High Point in January after Greensboro police asked for $65,000 to provide security for runners and volunteers; High Point police said they would provide the same services for free.

Duggan said he was surprised Greensboro let it go. "I just hope they keep it here," he said.

"It was a real nice course," said McCrea Wallace of Raleigh, who was running his second marathon with his wife, Sarah. "Real pretty. Well-organized. Everyone was real friendly."

Sarah Wallace finished in 3:37:39, fourth overall for females and a qualifying mark for the 2010 Boston Marathon. She said she didn't even have a watch to monitor her time and only learned a day before the race about the 3:40 qualifying mark for Boston, which will take place next April.

"It wasn't something I planned at all, but possibly," she said of running Boston. "We'll see how these legs feel tomorrow."

Eric Aldrich's legs felt fine; it was his feet that concerned most people who saw him. Aldirch, a 31-year-old Duke graduate student, ran the race barefoot. Yes, barefoot.

He made the switch about a year and a half ago after another runner convinced him it makes for a more natural stride. Aldrich, who said he had more than one person ask him if he ran himself out of his shoes during the race, finished in 3:11:25, just short of the men's qualifying time for Boston but good enough for 12th on the men's side.

"As soon as I can get out of my shoes in the winter, I do. It was a natural switch for me," said Aldrich, whose kids greeted him at the finish line with a poster that read "That Crazy Barefoot Guy Is My Dad!"

Right next to that was another poster encouraging one of Aldrich's training partners, Paul Beck of Durham. His 4-year-old son, Harrison, held a sign that said, "Way To Go #3 Dad!" commemorating Paul's third marathon.

When Harrison saw his dad enter the final stretch, he ducked the railing and ran out to join him for the last few steps. "I could have used you around mile 16," his dad said.

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller @news-record.com