In yesterday's 37th annual Chevron Houston Marathon, Romania's Nuta Olaru continued her recent hot streak of running with a 2:27:25 second-place finish behind the course record 2:24:18 set by Ethiopia's Teybo Erkesso. Although the runner-up finish ended Olaru's four race winning streak, she was nevertheless delighted to run her fastest time since a 2:25:37 at the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Coach Dumitru Pop commented, "She went out a bit too fast [72:23 with Erkesso at the half], but probably both women were thinking about the course record. If Nuta had run a little more controlled the first half, perhaps she would have been able to get close to 2:26.  This is really a great event, one of the best I have been too. The organization is perfect, and they make everything as easy as possible for the runners."