|
Runyan Wins Women's Title, Sets U.S. 30K Record
By Charlie Mahler, Running USA wire
ST. PAUL, Minn. - (October 1, 2006) - Defending USA Open, Masters and Twin Cities Marathon champion Mbarek Hussein and his good friend Simon Sawe relocated their usual Sunday long run from New Mexico to Minnesota on Sunday morning and finished 1-2 at the USA Championship run in conjunction with the 25th Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.
Hussein repeated last year's Open-Masters-Overall trifecta with a 2 hour, 13 minute, 52 second clocking over the challenging downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul course. Sawe, 32, ran abreast of his weekly running companion until the 25 mile mark before succumbing to the 41-year-old Hussein. He finished at 2:14:09. Both are naturalized U.S. citizens, originally from Kenya.
Ryan Shay, the 2003 USA Marathon champion, finished third in 2:14:58.
In the women's competition, two-time Olympian Marla Runyan, ran an aggressive, lonely, unexpectedly silent race to win her first USA Marathon title in 2:32:17. Mary Akor ripped a personal best 2:33:50 to finish second, while Zoila Gomez was third in 2:35:26.
Susan Loken, 43, defended her USA Masters title in 2:44:34.
Forgiving temperatures - a sunny 50 degrees at the start rising to the low 60s at the finish - and the colorful fall splendor greeted the 10,500 field.
Men's Race - A Sunday Long Run Together
After a pedestrian 5:25 opening mile, favorite-son Jason Lehmkuhle of Team USA Minnesota surged off the front of the lead pack with a 4:44, downhill mile. The Drake University grad was 80 meters clear of the field when he crossed the five mile mark in 25:01. He was 14 seconds up at 10K, split in 31:06.
By eight miles, though, Lehmkuhle was part of a four-runner pack that included Sawe, Shay and marathon debutante Fasil Bizuneh. Hussein, who was nursing a tender right hamstring coming into the race, wouldn't join the lead group until eleven miles. The lead pack of five crossed the half-way mark in 1:06:15.
"It took me awhile to warm-up," Hussein said. "I was patient. It is a long race. I'm pretty sure they were surprised to see me behind, way back. It comes with age; it takes longer to warm up."
During the middle miles of the race, Sawe appeared the strongest of the quintet as he stretched the group twice with testing surges. One, after 15 miles, dropped Shay off the back of the pack. The Notre Dame grad rallied, however, and the pack still numbered five when the runners crossed the shimmering Mississippi River at 19 miles.
The hills the runners encountered entering St. Paul after the 20 mile mark shook Bizuneh and then Lehmkuhle out of contention for the victory. Lehmkuhle would struggle home in seventh in 2:19:03; Bizuneh would hang onto fifth in 2:18:14. At 22 miles, Sawe, put himself 10 meters clear of training partner Hussein and Shay, but soon his friend was back by his side.
"Simon told me last night it would be great to finish 1-2," Hussein confided. "We didn't know which way."
It was difficult to guess the finish order even as the two raced down the long Summit Avenue homestretch. The two ran side-by-side until Hussein pulled away after the 25 mile mark.
"I made a very strong move," Hussein said. "I just felt good."
Hussein won a grand total of $39,000 for winning the overall, USA, masters and USA Masters titles. In addition, he won the Men's USA Running Circuit Grand Prix title with 42 points and another $6000.
Paul Aufdemberge finished runner-up to Hussein in the USA Masters Championship running 2:24:21. Dennis Simonaitis, who won the USA Master 10K title last week, was third in 2:26:10.
Women's Race - Frustration and Thankfulness
Runyan's emotions arced from puzzlement and frustration, through fatigue, finally finished with thankfulness, en route to her first USA Marathon title.
Runyan, 37, who is legally blind, expected Twin Cities officials to read out loud the mile splits displayed on the clocks along the route and to have the women's lead bicycle rider follow the shortest route on the course. Instead, the Eugene, Ore. resident heard only the half-marathon and 20 mile split - from her husband and coach Matt Lonergan - along with some assorted early times thanks to male runners who happened to be around her on the course.
"They told me they were going to have volunteers reading the clocks, but that did not happen," Runyan said. "I did not get one split. I was really kind of ticked that I was running by all these clocks and had no clue what my pace was."
"There was a lead bike that was supposed to be there for the lead women, which was me. They were all over the place," she added. "They were behind me, they were swerving across the road, they were chatting. I actually said, 'Hey, could one of you guys actually be a lead bike and be in the lead?'"
Into that void, Runyan, who won the USA 20K title on September 4, ended up setting a quick tempo for herself. She hit 10K at 34:54 and the half-way stripe in 1:14:20. Challengers were never close at hand. The race distance itself, though, provided the test in the final miles.
"Those hills in the last 10K, they never ended," Runyan reported. "I think my fitness isn't where it was when I ran 2:27, obviously. For me, the last 10K was tough more so because I'm not trained as well as I've been in the past."
Runyan did establish a pending USA 30K record passing that point in 1:46:42, bettering the mark of 1:47:41 by Kim Rosenquist at Twin Cities on October 12, 1986.
The victory marks Runyan's first marathon since the birth of her daughter Anna Lee.
"It's a whole 'nother world now," Runyan smiled over the challenges of balancing new motherhood and being an elite athlete. "There are a lot of compromises right now, because my daughter is the most important thing right now. My training is definitely different. I don't have time to do double runs. I don't get the kind of recovery I normally did. I don't have the luxury of, 'Oh, I think I'll take a nap today, I think I'll take a bath today.'"
Runyan has also needed to manage hip and back problems that predated her pregnancy.
"To be able to run this race and finish and win - oh my gosh, those are all great things and I have a lot to be really thankful for," Runyan concluded.
Runyan won $32,500 for the overall win, the USA title and setting the 30K record.
In the USA Masters Championship, Michelle Simonaitis joined her husband on the awards stand finishing runner-up to Loken in 2:48:17. Meghan Arbogast was third in 2:56:41.
25th Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon: USA Open & Masters Championships - Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN, Sunday, October 1, 2006
MEN
1) Mbarak Hussein, 41, NM, 2:13:52, $39,000
2) Simon Sawe, NM, 2:14:09, $17,500
3) Ryan Shay, MI, 2:14:58, $11,000
4) Chris Lundstrom, MN, 2:17:34, $9000
5) Fasil Bizuneh, VA, 2:18:14, $7000
6) Chris Graff, VA, 2:18:18, $5000
7) Jason Lehmkuhle, MN, 2:19:03, $4000
8) Jacob Frey, VA, 2:20:09, $3000
9) Kyle Baker, MI, 2:21:02, $2000
10) Danny Mackey, CO, 2:21:40, $1000
MASTERS Men (40+)
1) Hussein (see above)
2) Paul Aufdemberge, 44, MI, 2:24:21, $6000
3) Dennis Simonaitis, 41, UT, 2:26:10, $4000
WOMEN
1) Marla Runyan, OR, 2:32:17, $32,500
2) Mary Akor, CA, 2:33:50, $17,500
3) Zoila Gomez, CO, 2:35:26, $$11,000
4) Michelle Lilienthal, IA, 2:35:51, $9000
5) Turena Johnson Lane, IN, 2:36:15, $7000
6) Jenny Crain, WI, 2:39:07, $5000
7) Emily LeVan, ME, 2:39:20, $4000
8) Emily Mortensen, CO, 2:39:59, $3000
9) Rachel Kinsman, OH, 2:40:56, $2000
10) Maggie Chan-Roper, SC, 2:42:19, $1000
MASTERS Women (40+)
1) Susan Loken, 43, AZ, 2:44:34, $9000
2) Michelle Simonaitis, 40, UT, 2:48:17, $6000
3) Meghan Arbogast, 45, OR, 2:56:41, $4000
More results at: MTCMarathon.org.
|
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
