From the marathon to the mile and back again - from PRs to pacing!
Hi FitFooters!
Happy 2022!
I am writing this blog on Monday, January 17th, the day after a fantastic weekend in women’s distance running history.
In case you missed it yesterday, both the women’s American half-marathon (13.1 miles) and the full marathon (26.2) national records were broken at the Chevron Houston, TX Half/Full Marathon. Sara Hall ran 67:15 for the half to break Molly Huddle’s 2018 record and Keira D’Amato ran 2:19:12 to better Deena Kastor’s record from 2006.
⬆️ Sara Hall and husband Ryan Hall (who also holds the American Half-marathon record for men). 💖
Keira D’Amato after racing a marathon faster than any American woman. Ever. Her pace was 5:19 per mile for 26.2 miles!!!
In addition, the first 10 women qualified for the US Olympic Trials (a race to decide who goes to compete for Team USA) in 2024, one of which is our Jacksonville friend Kelsey (Beckmann) Pontius (give her a follow on IG @sportsdietitiankelsey)! In addition, FitFooter Lydia McRae ran and WON the Louisiana Half Marathon in Baton Rouge (check out the SFF beanie! Love it!)
⬆️ Lydia and Steve after the LA Half!
And that was just on Sunday.
Saturday saw its own level of greatness close to home with the FTC Mary Andrew’s Half and Full Marathon here in Gainesville, FL.
FitFooter Anne Elise (Creamer) Wester absolutely crushed her first marathon post partum (7 month old Hutch was at home with Dad) running 2:57:13 and lowering her PR from 2017 in the process!
I had the honor and pleasure of pacing Anne Elise (plus a couple of very nice fellas) for the second half of the race. AE told me she wanted to run 6:45 pace for as long as possible. We covered the last half in about 1:27 high, all three of the folks in the pack broke three hours (a huge milestone for any distance runners) and mission accomplained! ✅
Such a fun day to be a fan of distance running and such a fun weekend to be a part of folks running fast!
The previous 4-5 weeks also included a trip to Sacramento to race the California International Marathon (3:06:02 for me on a rough day, but the other ladies in the photo raced beautifully and finished in 2:43 (Kelly), 2:46 (Georganne) and 2:56 (Sarah)!)
⬆️ Sacramento, CA on the eve of California International Marathon (12/5/21)
This race was then followed up with the Frank Shorter Mile on New Year’s Day (not the most traditional way to come back from a rough marathon, but sometimes you just need a rebound race) and this is where AE and I cooked up the plan to have me pace her for her marathon.
Good friends don’t let other friends make bad decisions alone. They jump right in a do it with them 😂😅. Jk, we all made solid decisions for what our bodies could handle as well as took some calculated risks that paid off!
⬆️ 1/1/22 Frank Shorter Mile, Gainesville, FL
Now time for a couple easy days of training before getting back at it!
Newnan’s Lake 15k is up next in two weeks!! Stay tuned, FitFooters!
stay well!
Betsy