Esther Wanjiru Maina
Country: Kenya
Age: 25
Personal best: 2:23:31 (Osaka, 2000)

Wanjiru is one of the fastest half-marathon runners of all-time and will be making her first run in Boston. She was fourth in the Olympic marathon in Sydney in 2000. She burst onto the international scene at age 22 when she finished second at the 1999 Tokyo City Half-Marathon to veteran South African runer Elana Meyer. Her Tokyo time of 66:49 is among the best of all time at that distance. In 2001, Wanjiru raced from the 5,000 meters to the half-marathon distance with impressive results. She finished fourth at the Sendai Half-Marathon and fifth at the Kobe Women's Half-Marathon in 70:11. That spring, Wanjiru switched Japanese club affiliations and now runs for Shiseido. In February, she placed second at the Ohme-Hochi 30K in 1:46:58, and last month she finished second at the Kyoto City Half-Marathon.