What Joan Benoit Samuelson did in Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon was remarkable.

Added to what she did Monday in Boston, she ought to be in Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Benoit Samuelson not only raced again the day after fighting through a hot 26.2 miles in the fastest time ever by a woman 53 or older, 2 hours, 47 minutes, 50 seconds.

She also finished 10th in the Masters (40 & over) Division of Monday's Tufts Health Plan 10k (6.2 miles)  for Women with a time of 40:29.  That clocking was good enough for 60th place among the 6,699 women in the race.

Something Benoit Samuelson said about returning to Chicago for the 25th anniversary of her record-breaking 1985 victory (the winning time, 2:21:21, was a U.S. record that stood 17 1/2 years) applies equally well to her performance in Boston:

``Did I think I was going to be back here running competitively, trying to get an Olympic trials qualifying time 25 years later?  Heck, no.  But it's the passion that still burns, the challenge to see how fast I can go.''