Runners often talk about the fabled "second wind"--that point late in a race when you feel an extra burst of energy.

They also speak of "the wall"--that point in a marathon (typically, at the 20-mile mark) when, in one runner's words, you feel like a gorilla just jumped on your back.

At the Nov. 12 New York City Marathon, however, the only wind people were thinking about was the 20- to 30-mph howler gusting up and down the city streets. And the wall on most people's minds was, well, the wall you ran into when you ran into that wind.

Mexico's German Silva and Kenya's Tegla Loroupe broke through the powerful gusts, as well as a field thick with aggressive challengers, to repeat as victors.

The conditions did not keep some runners launching an early attack. Impetuous 19-year-old Naasi Gwagwe took it out at world record pace through four miles, and was still in the lead at eight. A tight pack of approximately 20 of the world's best gave chase. In that pack, biding time and conserving energy, was Silva.

By the half-way point, just after the Pulaski bridge in Queens, Gwagwe relinquished the lead and then faded back into the sea of runners. Time for him to pay the piper. The lead pack raced on to Manhattan without him.

By mile 18, heading north on First Avenue and enjoying a slight downhill, the lead pack was still at least 14 men. And when they hit the 24-mile point in Central Park, there were, to everyone's great surprise, still six men in contention: two Mexicans, three Kenyans and an Englishman.

Rarely in a marathon is there so much to be settled in so little time.

That is when German Silva thought of his volcano. He is at a loss for adjectives when he describes this favorite training spot. Usually, he can muster little more than "up, up up." The experience served him well on the hills of Central Park. As he often says, he is not one to wait--he acts.

With two miles to go, on an uphill section, Silva made his move. It dropped everyone except Brit Paul Evans and Kenyan William Koech. As Evans himself described it after the race: "He made a break, and I covered it. Then he made another break, and I covered it too. Then he made a third break--I couldn't cover it." Three's a charm.

Silva outlegged a grimacing Evans, 2:11:00 to 2:11:05, for the win. Koech was not far behind in 2:11:19 as 10 runners cracked 2:13 and 29 men came in under the 2:20 barrier.

Tegla Loroupe wrapped things up a little earlier. She also had a rabbit to chase, in the form of New Mexico's Olga Appell, who set a brutal early pace but dropped out when she was passed halfway into the race.

Loroupe ran comfortably alongside Portugal's Manuela Machado into Manhattan and then proceeded to motor away from her up First Avenue. Through the Bronx and then back into Manhattan she ran alone, racking up a two-and-a-half minute lead to win in 2:28:06, to Machado's 2:30:37. Lieve Slegers of Belgium, in her debut marathon, placed third in 2:32:08.

Loroupe and Silva had more in common than just the win. They charmed reporters and fans after the race, when they revealed independently that they were running the race in the name of a family member.

Loroupe's sister, Albina, died recently from stomach hemorrhages, while Silva's father, Acapito, fell victim to cancer last July.

If saddened about those they honored with their running, they were nonetheless happy with the win. So were those they vanquished. "I'm very pleased with my performance," Evans said after the race, "although I give all credit to German. I felt the whole race, he was calling all the shots."

Machado concurred, saying she was happy with second place, and then described her plans to escape the New York cold. She, for one, likes it hot. In her native Spanish, she mentioned a U.S. locale that usually is a little warmer.

As her translator struggled, the crowd soon understood that Machado, and many of the other elite athletes clustered around, had turned their thoughts to that warm place--the next stop on the marathon circuit--where they'll gather again: Atlanta.