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‘Starstruck’ O’Malley to honor marathoner Benoit Samuelson
Stew Milne/AP/File/2011
By Mark Shanahan
Globe Staff

City Councilor Matt O’Malley is looking forward to meeting Joan Benoit Samuelson. O’Malley will be honoring the celebrated marathoner Wednesday with a resolution proclaiming it “Joan Benoit Samuelson Day’’ in Boston. “I think I’ll be a little starstruck,’’ admitted O’Malley, who’s run the Boston Marathon seven times but at a much slower pace than the honoree. “I’m an out-of-shape guy, but I can go the distance.’’ It just takes him awhile. O’Malley’s best Boston time was 4 hours and 17 minutes, but he says he most often clocks in closer to 5 hours. By contrast, Benoit Samuelson, who lives in Freeport, Maine, won the Boston Marathon in 1983 with a time 2:22:43, a record that wasn’t broken for 11 years. She also won the first women’s Olympic marathon in 1984 with a time of 2:31:04.