The Front Row with BILL BULEY April 15, 2011

On Oct. 18, 2010, Caleb Hiebert was ready.

That was the date he and thousands of others could register for the 115th Boston Marathon. The form was filled out, the credit card number typed in. Just hit submit.

"The minute it opened online I signed up," he said. "I was lucky enough to do that."

Good thing.

His application was accepted. Thousands of others - who met Boston's rigid qualifying standards - weren't. The field of 27,000 filled in eight hours, a first for the most famous marathon in America. The old record for fastest fill time? Try 64 days.

The Coeur d'Alene man, smiling on a Thursday night as he prepared to lead a group heading out from Fleet Feet for a training run, is already anxious for the 10 a.m. Monday starting gun.

He is Boston bound.

HIS PLANE leaves tonight and he arrives in Beantown on Saturday. After catching a Red Sox game at Fenway Park on Sunday and hopefully getting a good night's rest, the next morning he'll be lining up in Hopkinton. The course will take him past millions of spectators and through Ashland, Natick, Wellesly and Newton. All told, he'll cover 26.2 of the most celebrated miles in the country.

It will be his first Boston, the holy grail for runners everywhere.

The goal? Beat 3 hours.

"I'm feeling healthy, I'm feeling strong," Hiebert said. "I'm super excited."

The 31-year-old had to better 3 hours and 10 minutes to qualify. He ran 3:05:12 at the Big Sur International Marathon in California last year.

To prepare for Boston, he logged between 50-60 miles a week, low for most marathoners.

"I never felt like the high mileage was that much better for me," Hiebert said.

Instead, he focused on speedwork, churning out 800-meter and one-mile repeats on the track, and tossing in tempo runs on the road.

Hiebert, a personal trainer at 360 Fitness, has five marathons and five Ironmans to his credit. He believes he’s ready for the climb up Heartbreak Hill and the notorious downhills that turn quads to mush.

“The last 10K is always brutal, regardless of what you do,” he said.

ONCE HE’S reached the finish line in Boston, one would think he would relax, have a beer or two, take time off for a few weeks. That would be wrong

Instead, the 6-foot, 165-pounder will soon be off to California, where he’ll run the Big Sur marathon on May 1. He’s one of about 300 joining the Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge, where combined times of both races will determine the winner.

Is he worried? Doesn’t sound like it.

“It might work out OK with 13 days in between,” he said with a laugh.

Hiebert was born in Spokane, grew up in Missouri and graduated from high school in Florida. Running long distance wasn’t his thing. He played basketball through high school and one year in college.

“I was never into endurance events until I moved to Coeur d’Alene,” he said.

That was in 2002. In 2003, the first year Ironman was held here, he ran more than five miles for the first time in his life.

He hasn’t stopped.

TRAINING FOR Ironmans and marathons, though, isn’t his life.

He and wife Mandee live on a quiet street in Coeur d’Alene with a dog and cat. He is also a volunteer at Coeur d’Alene Homes, where he leads residents nicknamed “Caleb’s Crew” in Wii bowling and exercise routines twice a week.

His favorite place to run is French Gulch.

“It’s so quiet out there,” he said. “You always see deer and turkeys.”

Come Monday, though, he won’t be admiring the scenery. At least not for three hours or so.

Because every runner, including Caleb Hiebert, wants to say, “I finished Boston.”

“This is pretty big,” he said.

Bill Buley is the city editor of the Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, ext. 2016, and bbuley@cdapress.com.