COEUR d'ALENE - Halfway through Sunday's Coeur d'Alene Marathon, and Caleb Hiebert's body went kaput.

Not completely broken down, actually, but at mile 13 in the 26.2-mile course Hiebert's legs - specifically his IT bands - tightened like taunt twine.

But runners, and not just Hiebert, are a resilient bunch.

So with 50 percent of the race still to go, the 360 Fitness personal trainer practiced what he preaches to his clients and sucked it up.

"It made it a little more challenging," said Hiebert, walking gingerly after the race where he took top honors for his age division, men's 30-34, with a time of 3 hours and 4 minutes. "I guess I got lucky."

But he had help, too, he said, to the tune of 400 volunteers who aided and cheered the estimated 2,000 runners and walkers at the 36th annual marathon.

At every turn, every hill and every muscle spasm near his thighs, there was a volunteer or seven cheering him on. It's what makes the annual race, besides its scenery, a top-flight event, he said.

"It's really amazing the amount of people on the course, at every corner," Hiebert said. "We're really lucky here."

The course starts at Riverstone and follows the Centennial Trail along the Spokane River, flanked by pine trees in the nearby hills, and passes through the redeveloped Education Corridor as well as parts of downtown Coeur d'Alene. The signature scenery is a calling card for the race that attracts 30 percent of its runners from outside the greater Spokane Coeur d'Alene area.

"I've done others, this is the best," said Joe Guenthner, who traveled from Moscow to run the half-marathon, the most popular distance of the three races offered, with a 5-kilometer race and full marathon as the other two. "It was great, the weather was perfect, the volunteers were friendly, and everyone was happy."

The weather did cooperate, with temperatures topping out at 69 degrees under a cloudless sky. A nice change from Saturday's drizzle, but it also left race director Charlie Miller scrambling right before the starting gun to go buy more water cups.

Miller netted the extra cups in time, providing 20,000 drinks of water on the course thanks to the 400 volunteers who passed them out.

"You'd think they'd get tired standing out there for so long," said runner Tanna Deruyter, who finished second in her age bracket, 20-24, for the full marathon. "But every time I ran by they were cheering. You'd think I was the first person they'd seen."

One of Coeur d'Alene's biggest races, it was also the first one since the Boston Marathon terrorist bombings in April. The course finished on Main Street in the mixed-use development Riverstone, with hundreds of spectators crowded in front of shops at the grand finish line.

But runners and spectators Sunday said while Boston was in the backs of many of their minds, they wouldn't let it cast a gloom over the event which had increased security, according to Miller.

"I thought about it because I had friends who did Boston," said Irene Gonzales, who ran the half-marathon. "But also in thinking about it, that's why we had to come out and do it. To show them we're not going to be scared."

"We're resilient," Hiebert added of the running community. "As if it's going to deter us from showing up: It's not going to work."

Debbie Wagnild waited for her daughter and husband to complete the race near the finish line with a video camera in hand to capture it. She said the atmosphere was as cheerful as years past.

"I thought of (Boston) once, but I didn't think of it again," she said. "It wouldn't happen here."

The race is a primary fundraiser for the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation. Miller said he's aiming to net $70,000 from the race, whose calling card will always be the views.

"It's beautiful," Deruyter added. "It's Coeur d'Alene."