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ARTICLE REPUBLISHED FROM THE LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR Mon., May 4:

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A guy sporting a suit and tie stood at the finish line with some roses, a ring and a question.

Lined up next to him were his eight nieces and nephews holding “Will” “You” “Marry” “Me” “Whitney” signs.

The proposee in question was Whitney Masat, who would soon cross the half marathon finish line at Sunday morning’s Lincoln National Guard Marathon and Half Marathon.

Masat and Jeff Bernecker, both from Plainview, have been dating for seven years.

“She doesn’t have any idea I’m doing this,” Bernecker said. And even after crossing the finish, she still didn’t have any idea he was doing this. She dizzily passed the line and then passed out without noticing the proposal.

She was carried to the BryanLGH tent and given intravenous fluids. After about 30 minutes, with repositioned nieces and nephews, Bernecker greeted Masat as she exited the medical tent.

He got down on a knee.

She soon followed to her knees and passed out again. But not before whispering “Yes.”

Masat’s OK. The couple’s engaged.

As far as we know, that was the only wedding proposal at the 2009 Lincoln Marathon. But quirky, heartwarming, inspiring, triumphant, disappointing and just plain strange things happen every year at the marathon.

At this year’s race, the biggest ever with a total tally of 6,558 runners, the weather was warm, the bathroom lines endless, the post-race puke plentiful, and bottles of hand sanitizer were scattered throughout the finish line aid station. Concerns about flu, officials said, made degerming more of an issue than usual.

Except for all the really fast guys and gals aiming for the top spots, the drive for most runners is just to finish. And in a reasonable time.

Everybody’s got a goal.

Maggie Kucera, 26, hoped she could still make her goal time despite having just returned sore from a hiking trip at the Grand Canyon.

Nate Piper, a 33-year-old from Kearney, decided once again to attempt “to defy physics,” to be a “non-runner” who runs.

Theresa Gulizia, 37, of Gretna just wanted to finish without any injuries or stops.

“You’ve put in eight to 12 weeks of your time for this,” she said, “and you want it to go well.”

Omaha sisters Tracie Burton, 34, and Korrie and Cassie Crisman, 27 and 31, were prodded by their supercrazydevoted runner of a father to run the half this year.

Their goal, they said, was to beat the first full marathon guy to the finish.

And at least two half marathon runners fed on the fuel of evil to finish the race.

Just for the fun of it, University of Nebraska-Lincoln students Brian Petersen, 22, and Andrew Uden, 20, dressed in full costume as, respectively, Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper.

“We ran this last year in shorts,” they said. “This year was about 10 times harder. The first six miles were awesome. Then after that we thought we were going to die.”

After three blocks, their masks started fogging up. But they never shed any of the gear for their whole 13.1 miles. The crowd kept them going.

“The crowd loved us,” Petersen said.

“For us being evil, a lot of people really liked us,” Uden said. “The Dark Side got us through, all the way.”