When Timothy C. Harte '90, a resident tutor in Kirkland House, crosses into Ashland during today's 103rd running of the Boston Marathon, he will have added incentive to keep hammering away at the 26.2 mile course.

Harte placed 51st in last year's race, and he was chosen by Adidas, one of the marathon's major sponsors, to appear in the company's ad campaign. His visage now graces posters, Web sites and postcards, not to mention a giant banner hanging over the entrance to Ashland.

"When I went to pick up my number, I kept seeing big pictures of myself," says the unassuming Harte.

Harte is one of the many Harvard-affiliated runners participating in today's marathon.

While most do not have Harte's experience or competitive edge--their reasons for running range from fundraising for the Red Cross to following in their parents' foot--steps--they all seem to share his hunger for a challenge.

Harte, a former captain of Harvard's indoor and outdoor track teams, recently ran the New York Marathon in 2:29, and he is hoping to improve on that time today.

"I'd be happy with anything under 2:30, but I'm shooting for 2:26," says Harte, who has been training consistently for the past four months, running between 80 to 90 miles per week.

He runs for the Boston Athletic Association and mixes team workouts with his own training.

"I prefer to train on my own, but I do hard track workouts and some long runs with guys from the team," he says. "I like a balance."

Harte, a fourth-year graduate student in the Slavic languages and literatures department, is also attempting to strike a balance between his running and coursework.

He says he promised himself not to run more than once a day, as many elite runners do.

"I didn't want it to dominate my life," he says.

Running competitively still plays a major role in Harte's life, though.

"I wonder if I should be devoted entirely to academic work," he says. "Sure, [marathoning] is exciting, but you have to sacrifice something if you want to run marathons as seriously as I do."

Harte moved up from the shorter distances heran as an undergraduate in part because trainingfor a marathon allows a more flexible schedule.

"It's much easier than, say, running track hereat Harvard," he says. "You can be a littlesloppier in your training, you don't need thespeed."