Roosevelt's early risers have most likely seen Sheela Mitchell and Rachel Wheeler, although they may not know their names.

The women have spent this past winter and spring bundling up five days a week at 5:30 a.m. before setting out on training runs, some as long as 20 miles. The pair's months of hard work paid off earlier this month when they each finished the Ogden Marathon with times that qualified them for one of the nation's premier road races: the Boston Marathon.

“The 26.2 (miles) is the easy part compared to all the training,” said Wheeler, a mother of four who teaches music at Roosevelt Junior High School. “We went in the snow, and in the rain, and in the 20 below zero (temperatures).”

For Mitchell and Wheeler, the race in Ogden marked their second foray into marathon running. Both had taken part in the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan last September. In fact, Mitchell's finishing time of 3 hours 56 minutes in that race qualified her to run in Boston.

Wheeler crossed the finish line four minutes shy of the mark.

“I had a ball running it,” she said. “I didn't care what my time was, I was just running it to finish.”

But when Wheeler, who admits to having a competitive streak, saw how close she'd come to Boston, she said her outlook on long-distance running became a bit more serious.

The women had used author Hal Higdon's Web site to train for their first marathon. They returned to the site again to prepare for Ogden, this time choosing a more rigorous plan to condition their bodies to complete 26.2 miles in less time. They put mile after mile into their legs, relying on each other at times for motivation.

Then, at 5:30 a.m. on May 16, the pair stood with other runners near the starting line east of Huntsville. Their start time wasn't until 7 a.m.

“Needless to say, we were huddled around the fire,” said Mitchell, a mother of three who works at Uintah Basin Medical Center.

When they finally set off, the views of the Ogden Valley captured Mitchell's attention.

“It was probably the most beautiful part of Utah I've seen and I'm a native of Utah,” she said.

Each ran at her own race at her own pace. Mitchell said she “hit the wall” at mile 24.

“I thought, 'Can this just be done,'” she said.

Wheeler also had difficulty near the end – somewhere around mile 25 – when she felt searing pain in the knee that had given her trouble throughout her training.

“I hadn't noticed it until then and then once I noticed it that was all I could feel for the last mile,” she said.

Wheeler finished the race in 3 hours 36 minutes, earning her 15th place in her age group. Mitchell crossed the finish line with a time of 3 hours 55 minutes. She was 12th in her age category.

Both women are excited about qualifying for the 114th Boston Marathon. They are each actively setting new goals to improve their fitness, although Mitchell said the experience alone of running in the world's oldest annual marathon is going to be enough for her.

“I don't care if I do 12-minute miles, I can say I went,” she said, although by the time she toes the line on April 19, it's a safe bet her competitive drive will have other plans.