"It seemed like every Wellesley undergraduate was out there," he said. "It really gets you pumped up."

R. Graham F. O' Donoghue '01, who ran with Milikowsky, also remembers the run past Wellesley with a particular fondness.

"The town just goes wild, and Wellesley is always a hot spot" he said. "The girls were all out there screaming."

Although Katharine Holt admitted Wellesley's feminine wiles were lost on her, she said she appreciated the outpouring of support.

"I'm not a guy, but Wellesley was still really fun," Holt joked. "You could hear the fans before you could see them. They were slapping hands and screaming their heads off."

Shouts of encouragement and blasting music also helped the runners climb the infamous Heartbreak Hill--a steep part of the course in Newton.

"That was the most physically painful part of the race, but I saw a lot of Harvard people, which was a big pick-me-up," Milikowsky said.

Shi says he wrote his first name on the front of his shirt so fans could cheer him on by name.