Mike Tognarelli

What do you do when you're a three-time Ford Ironman Hawaii qualifier and medical school puts a crimp in your training schedule? Try something simpler, perhaps? Like marathoning? And when you've won one of those, what's next?

That is the question that faces Autumn Ray, who won the 2008 Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans on Feb. 24 with a time of 2:58:42.

"I just felt great today," exclaimed Ray. "Everything came together."

Ray, 28, of Libby, Mont. has lived in Galveston since 2002. In 2004, she was USAT's top-ranked female triathlete in the 20-24 age group. She was Houston Racing Triathlon Club's female triathlete of the year in 2006.

At the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon 70.3 (BSLT) in 2005, Ray earned her first bid to Hawaii. She equaled the feat twice more: qualifying at Vineman 70.3 in 2005 and again at BSLT in 2006. Time and budget constraints prevented her from accepting any of the three bids.

In the fall of 2006, Ray entered medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch - Galveston. The rigorous academic schedule forced her to moderate her training.

She elected to place more emphasis on running, while maintaining competency in the other disciplines - still managing to post a 4th overall finish at the 2007 PrairieMan half-Ironman and a 3rd overall at the Ironstar half-Ironman in Montgomery, Tx.

Her marathon debut came at Austin in 2006 on a frigid February day when the start was delayed to allow ice to dissipate from some of the overpasses on the course. She blazed through the chill in what remains her personal best time of 2:57. New Orleans marks her fifth stand-alone marathon finish - having run one as part of the 2006 Vineman full Ironman - of which four are sub-three-hour efforts, including a 2:59 finish at the 2007 Boston Marathon.

Six weeks prior to this race, Ray tallied a 2:59 at the Chevron Houston Marathon, good enough for 25th overall. This time the stakes were higher.

"I came here (New Orleans) to win," remarks Ray, who added she had been "looking forward to a relaxing weekend" after a week of exams.

At the halfway point, Ray posted a 1:29:42 split, and was running in fourth place among the 495-woman field, nearly three minutes behind the leader.

To that point, weather conditions had been in the mid-50s, cool and overcast. However, the clouds broke during the second half of the race and the temperatures began to rise toward the 70s along with the omnipresent southeast Louisiana humidity. Such weather would seem to favor the base and experience of an accomplished long-course triathlete. Indeed, says Ray, "I felt comfortable the whole time out there."

One-by-one, she eclipsed the runners ahead of her.

"I could recognize them by their bicycle escorts," she explains.

By mile 21, she had moved into second position and only trailed the leader, first-time marathoner, Karen Lockyer of Lafayette, La., by one minute.

Ray overtook Lockyer at mile 23 and never looked back, opening a 3-1/2 minute gap by the race's end.

"A rush of adrenaline kicked in and made the last few miles seem easy," says Ray.

It showed as the jubilant Ray jaunted down the finishing chute, high fiving the welcoming crowd and reveling in the sweet sensation of breaking the tape.

"I feel like I'm on top of the world," she says.

Ray will enter her third year of medical school this June - incidentally she scored above ninety percent in those aforementioned exams - and her prospects for training don't look to improve.

"I think I'm guaranteed two days off per month," she explains, "but I won't know which two."

So, what indeed is next for her?

"I won today, but I didn't PR," she jokingly laments. "I'd like to do that before the spring is out, so I hope to sneak in another marathon before finals."