David Rein of Beverly and Mike Goolkasian of Ipswich have realized the ultimate dream of any marathoner — and it doesn't have a single thing to do with winning a 26.2-miler.

The longtime running partners — they've been on the roads for 22 years — reached the summit in their pave-pounding careers by covering the original course in Greece, from Marathon to Athens this fall.

"It had been in the back of our minds for about 10 years — and we finally did it," Rein, who will be 60 in January, said.

Both Rein and Goolkasian achieved their goals of breaking four hours and qualifying for the 2009 Boston Marathon. But the absolute high for both harriers was doing the course that Pheidippides charted in 450 B.C, running from Marathon exactly 26.2 miles to Athens, bringing the news that the Greek military had beaten back the Persians in Marathon.

The messenger then dropped dead, but it was the birth of the modern marathon.

Rein, who works at Costco, clocked it in 3:57.13; Goolkasian, 44, a vitamin broker, was timed in 3:58.50.

To the best of their knowledge, there were 25 Americans in an estimated field of 4,500 runners.

"If you run seriously, Greece is the destination for this marathon. Everyone knows the history," Rein said. "I can't tell you how exciting it was. We spent six beautiful days in Greece and even swam in Aegean Sea. It's so clear and blue that you can see the bottom."

It was Rein's 72nd marathon since he took it up at age 35 and the 130th for Goolkasian, who ran his first (the Marines Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.) in 1988. Rein was 37 when he made his marathon debut.

"I used to sell marathon T-shirts in Hopkinton and they kicked me off the course. I decided I'd watch that year and I saw old John Kelly in the race. I said if he can do it, I probably could, too," Rein chuckled.

"I never thought I'd run in Greece," Goolkasian confessed. "I was thinking during the marathon there that the experience was a dream."

Goolkasian knew he was in a foreign country because the mileage checks were in kilometers and some Greek. There were few spectators until approaching Athens, he said.

The Athens Marathon ended in the 2004 Olympic Stadium for track & field.

What made it such a hard trek was that there was a stretch of hills over a 13-mile span from miles 6-to-20.

Generally, they run together. But at the 20-mile mark Goolkasian suggested Rein go ahead so that he could have a shot at the sub-4 and qualify for Boston.

"I was thinking of my wife. She always felt it was safe to run alongside Mike," Rein said.

The Grecian menu was a 10 with the two visitors, especially the grape leaves wrapped with rice.

"I recommend Greece to anyone," Rein said.