It hasn't taken long for Casey Smith to establish herself as one of the region's premiere distance runners. The 25-year-old Arlington, Virginia resident has been on a steady climb to the top since she graduated from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia four years ago.

Smith recently capped off a highly successful 2004 campaign with several impressive showings, including a third place finish at the Philadelphia Marathon in November, and a first-place finish at the prestigious Army 10-miler (57:26) in early October. Her marathon time of 2:45:23 was a personal best, and only four minutes off of the winning pace.

"I ran well in Philly and had a lot of fun too. Everything just fell into place," says Smith, who pocketed $1000 for her efforts. "I had a plan to start out conservative and just maintain a consistent pace. I tried to execute the plan as well as I could. The weather was perfect for running and I felt really good for most of the race."

While Smith's recent performances have been impressive, the Mechanicsville, Virginia native is no stranger to success. While competing at Roanoke College, Casey earned NCAA Division III All- American honors in both cross country and track, winning the 10,000-meters at the 2001 outdoor championships and being named the school's Female Athlete of the Year.

Unlike many athletes who excel at the collegiate level after having brilliant high school careers, Smith didn't even take up running on the track until she started college. At Atlee High School, she dabbled in cross country, but spent most of her time pursuing other sports.

"I started running cross country in 10th grade. I only ran cross country in the fall in high school and played softball in the spring."

One of the reasons that Smith may be enjoying so much success today is that she has carefully paced herself, always enjoying the sport and never being pushed by a demanding coach or family member.

"No one really pushed me to get started. I started running because I wanted to do a fall sport so I didn't have to go home after school every day," says Smith. "My high school coach was great and made running a lot of fun, which kept me interested and involved. I think because I had so much fun, I wanted to keep running." She still finds the same joy from running today as she did when she first took up the sport in high school. Running still does not feel like a chore for Casey, even though she often rises early each morning for her daily run before heading off to her full-time job as an auditor at Grant Thornton in Vienna.

"Running is really an outlet for stress for me. I really enjoy the social aspect of the sport as well."

A typical training week for Smith consists of an hour of running five days a week, one longer run during the week and a day completely off. If she is training for a big race, she will usually incorporate a track or tempo workout one day a week. Some of the races that she plans on competing in during the upcoming spring racing season include the Williamsburg Half- Marathon at the end of February, the St. Patrick's Day race in March, and the Credit Union Cherry Blossom in April.

Casey admits that she hasn't thought much about goals for the 2005 season, but says that she does want to continue to improve, and most importantly--enjoy herself.

"I really enjoy the social aspect of the sport as well. The competition is another part of running that I like. I really enjoy competing and running races. Most importantly, though, I think running is fun. If I didn't have fun I wouldn't run."