Vassallo, a 2007 Colby College graduate, won the Maine Marathon back in October with his first attempt at the 26.2 mile road race. Six months later, Vassallo was among the best marathon runners in the world by finishing with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes, 10 seconds.

"I really didn't think I'd be getting this much attention," said Vassallo, a native of Wilmington, Mass. "When I got back to Brunswick (Maine) last night I had 28 e-mails of congratulations and I had others leave voice mail. I really didn't think it was that big of a deal, but it's been nice to have the support."

Vassallo had no time to rest after his long run. He was back to work Tuesday as an intern with the Portland Sea Dogs baseball team.

"It's pretty hard to walk right now and going down the stairs is impossible," Vassallo said with a laugh. "Everybody at work knows I'm pretty useless at this point."

Vassallo, who will turn age 23 this Monday, was the youngest finisher among the top 25 at the Boston Marathon. He ran his first race and shocked many by winning the Maine Marathon on October 8 in a course-record time of 2:26:54.

Vassallo trains with coach Fernando Braz of the Merrimack Valley Striders, a club running team. Braz works his full-time job with the father of Vassallo's girlfriend --- current Colby student and runner Katrina Gravel '10.

"Fernando is considered one of the best marathon coaches in New England," Vassallo said.

Vassallo's goals heading into Monday were to break his time from the Maine Marathon and be among the top 10 American finishers. He did break his Maine Marathon time, but was still looking to go faster. Vassallo spent a good deal of the race running with 29-year-old Eric Blake of New Britain, Conn.

"We were side-by-side for about 14 to 15 miles and he told me at the finish line that he wouldn't have been able to do what he did without me there," said Vassallo, who had a mile average of 5:32. "I kind of felt the same way."

Blake finished 23rd overall in 2:24:30. Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot won the overall title in 2:07:46 and Nicolas Arciniaga of Michigan was the top American finisher in 10th place at 2:16:13.

Ironically, Vassallo's success in Boston came on the same day (April 21) last year when he was racing for Colby and won the 10,000-meter run at the Maine State Championships at Bates College. Vassallo set a school record that afternoon with a 30:52.79 and earned the Alan G. Hillman Award as the most outstanding athlete in track events.

Vassallo is going much further than 10,000 meters these days. He runs about 110 miles a week.

"Unfortunately I have to run most of the time after work," Vassallo said. "It's not so bad now since the weather is nice, but it wasn't much fun this winter."