Persistent rain and high winds might have bothered most of the 11,007 competitors Sunday in the 41st annual Seattle Marathon, but it was a mere inconvenience for men's winner Jesse Williams.

"I live in Seattle so if you're going to let rain bother you, you need to find someplace else to live," Williams said. "The wind running across the bridge on I-90 was really bad, but it was more at our sides than in our face."

The 34-year-old's time of 2 hours, 29 minutes, 54 seconds was more than three minutes better than runner-up Ian Nurse of Portland, the winner of the Portland Marathon this year. Trish Steidl won the women's race for the third time.

"I was way behind at the halfway point and I didn't know if I could catch up," Williams said. "I've run quite a bit faster than that, but this course is just so hard. It's not about the time."

Williams said he felt a lot of hometown support.

"It's cool to run on your home course and having people out there cheering you on," Williams said. "It was nice to have people out there I knew wanting me to do well."

Williams' only other marathon victory came in Oklahoma City in 2002.

"I'm a little surprised that I won," Williams said. "Usually someone really good comes in and blows away the field."

Steidl, the Seattle University men's and women's track and cross country coach, finished in 3:03:41. She also won in 2006 and 2007.

"This was not a fast day," Steidl said. "It's really windy, so I just kind of decided to run by feel and see what happens. The last couple of miles were super windy and I just wanted to get it done."

Steidl, 34, was 17 seconds behind runner-up Zara Lukens at the halfway point, but finished 3 minutes, 28 seconds ahead of her.

"I probably started out a little fast because I felt really good, but then the wind really hit," Steidl said. "About mile 20, I was second and I thought I would just wait for the hills and hope I felt better than she does. Fortunately, that happened."

Brian Masterson of Seattle won the men's half-marathon in 1:12:39 and Bronwyn Crossman of Bellingham took the women's half-marathon in 1:20:43.

Dr. Mark Harrast, who led a team of 80 medical volunteers from UW Medical Center, said they were all kept busy on a raw day where the wind blew sideways at the finish line at Seattle Memorial Stadium.

"We haven't had a lot of major medical issues coming into our main tent," Harrast said, "but our on-course medical stations are seeing more people because it's so cold and wet."