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A double win in Buffalo, New York for the 8th annual Marathon event with two Ethiopians taking home the title. For the women Meseret Kotu and for the men Habtamu Bekele, both earned their top spots with help from their sponsor Foot Solution, an international foot care and wellness franchise.
The outstanding record-breaking win of Meseret came with ease, as she finished over ten minutes ahead of the second place New Yorker Jessica Allen in 2:54:45. With a time of 2:43:10, Meseret broke the previous 2:44:57 record set in 1991 by Beth Anne DeCiantis. After mile eleven Meseret broke apart from the pack and ran her own race with an impressive eighth place overall finish.
The men’s race on the other hand was a tighter finish. Habtamu Bekele won with a 2:26:05, a sixteen second lead over Jason Lokwatom. Although Lokwatom finished close to Bekele, in 2003 at the Rome Marathon Bekele finished in an impressive 2:10:43. Throughout this year, Bekele has raced in several marathons and everyone knows running without proper precautions can take its toll on the body. In this year alone, he has competed in the Bermuda Marathon with a 2:31:26 and the Atlanta Marathon with a 2:29:19, and now Buffalo. Both Meseret and Bekele train with high intensity and require proper care for their bodies to deal their level of training. In order to run this fast and keep injuries to a minimum, the two have begun to integrate Balance Walking into their training. Through this cross training exercise the runners are able to maintain a certain level of fitness, while recovering from their marathons and limiting the pounding of running. Using specific Chung Shi shoes! the athletes are able to engage larger muscle groups to increase the strength in their legs and get a light upper body workout with the Nordic poles. This overall cardiovascular and strength workout also engages the core muscles and helps to give the runners the extra endurance and edge at the end of the long 26.2 mile race. Custom inserts are also placed in their running shoes to help with the foundation of all runners, their feet. The inserts help to minimize the injuries while giving a correct foot strike. Overall these two world-class runners had impressive finishes and took advantage of the fast and flat course throughout the beautiful western waterfront area of Buffalo.
For more information about Balance Walking with the Chung Shi shoes and Nordic Poles, visit FootSolutions.com. Classes are being offered throughout the United States at Foot Solution locations.
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