Kids, don't try this at home.
The 2009 SunTrust National Marathon winner ran a portion of Saturday's race with his shoe untied. Not just for one mile, or two miles, but for the last five miles of the race.
Despite the equipment malfunction, Patrick Moulton was able to come out of relative nowhere around Mile 20 to overtake two other runners and hold on to win the men's marathon with a time of 2:21:12.
And he did it all with one untied shoe.
"I kept thinking about that the whole time," Moulton said. "I just hoped it wouldn't fall off."
Moulton had to battle back after David Mosop and David Cheromei jumped out to a big lead at about the race's halfway point.
When Mosop finally dropped back, that was Moulton's cue to take aim at Cheromei.
"It was around 20 miles, and I was in fifth or sixth," Moulton said. "The two Kenyans were slowing down."
Moulton finally took the lead, but no one could blame him for looking back.
"I expected them to come up on me, but they never did."
Around the same time Moulton made his move, three-time defending champion Michael Wardian made one of his own.
Wardian hung around in fourth place for most of the race but made a late charge of his own and finished in second.
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"I caught the last guy at 25 and a half miles, which is always good," said Wardian, who will run another marathon Sunday in Virginia.
"I felt like this is my race," Wardian said. "People were cheering for me and shouting my name. That gave me more motivation. It was like a hometown crowd. I wanted to do it for them. But Pat ran a great race."
Moulton, from Providence, R.I., is a former All-Big East runner who qualified for the 2008 Men's Olympic Marathon Team Trials. He placed an impressive 28th overall at the Trials in New York City.
Jeannette Seckinger won the women's marathon.
The Massachusetts native said the other runners in the lead pack let her lead for most of the race. She said she was concerned by the wind but tried to continue to set the pace the whole way through.
"I don't really have wheels, so I'm not one to kick down another runner," she said.
She said she wants to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 2012 and used the National Marathon as a tune-up for that.
Two Ethiopians, who each call Silver Spring, Md., home, set new course records in the men's and women's half marathon.
Demesse Tefera finished with a time of about 1:05 to win the men's half portion.
Hirut Mandefro set a new record in the women's half marathon by finishing with a time of 1:15:36.
