THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: April 26, 2014

Most runners only noticed they're being watched when the cars are honking at them to move out of the way.

Just imagine a 26-mile stadium roar, and you'd have an idea of what Post Falls resident Heath Wiltse got to experience on Monday afternoon.

WILTSE COMPETED in the Boston Marathon on Monday, the second time in three years he'd competed in the event.

He did not compete in the event last year, when two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three people and injuring an estimated 264 others.

"I did get the chance to do the race three years ago, so I kind of knew the layout of the course," Wiltse said. "Coming in, it felt normal to what I had experienced before."

Wiltse arrived in Boston on Easter Sunday, taking in the Expo and a pre-race dinner for the runners.

"The last time, I got there really early," Wiltse said. "This time, I went from Sunday to Wednesday. The night after the race, we went to Fenway Park because they offered tours of the stadium and could look at the World Series trophy. They had a pre-race dinner that 15,000 runners showed up for and kind of chilled out. Since it was Easter, I went to one of the masses at a 200-year old church."

AS RACE day approached, Wiltse said he wasn't nervous about competing in the race. Wiltse competed in last October's New York City Marathon, just six months before bombings hit that city.

"Not really," Wiltse said. "Either you decide to do it and you're not nervous about it, or you just don't do it. I was a little more nervous to be in New York than in Boston."

Wiltse finished the 26.2 mile race in 2 hours, 49 minutes and 43 seconds.

"The most noticeable difference, and I've done 120 races, I always tell people that that 2012 race is the best I've done. This year's race probably had twice the spectators and it was like a stadium roar for 26 miles."

That, if anything, threw him off a little bit.

"You really just had to remain calm," Wiltse said. "There was a lot of disabled runners, a few from the bombings, that had the blades for legs. That was super neat to see them and what they were doing. People were not scared about going to the race at all. Because they were everywhere."

Obviously, it was a new kind of cheering section for Wiltse, who is the fitness director at Peak Health and Wellness in Post Falls.

"Running is like a solitary sport," Wiltse said. "You might have a family cheering you on, but that's about it. This year, there was never a moment when someone isn't yelling your name. It was neat to have someone cheering your name, but you just need to remain calm. Usually the only time you'd hear something like that is when a car is driving by and wants you to get out of the way."

Wiltse will compete in Bloomsday and the Newport Marathon in the next three weeks. A return to Boston may not happen next year.

"I've been thinking about doing it next year," Wiltse said. "But it's the best race I can do each year. I really want to go every two or three years, so it doesn't seem that common."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.