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Fast Women, April 29, 2019, Issue 17


Emily Sisson and Molly Huddle run at the back of the pack early on in the 2019 London Marathon. Eventual winner Brigid Kosgei is in front of them in red. (Photo courtesy of Virgin Money London Marathon)

 

Brigid Kosgei dominates, Emily Sisson holds her own at the London Marathon

The women’s field at this year’s London Marathon was widely regarded as the best women’s marathon field ever assembled, and by the finish, Brigid Kosgei made it clear that she was in a class of her own, at least on the day. After going through the halfway point in a slow (relatively speaking) 1:11:38, Kosgei closed with a 1:06:42 half-marathon, for a final time of 2:18:20. Her margin of victory, 1:54, was the largest since Paula Radcliffe’s last London win, in 2005. And according to the London Marathon media guide, that’s the fastest second half of a marathon a woman has ever run.

Behind Kosgei was a who’s who of women’s marathoning. Last year’s London Marathon champion, Vivian Cheruiyot, finished second in 2:20:14. Roza Dereje, the 2018 runner-up at the Chicago Marathon and 2018 Dubai Marathon champion, was third in 2:20:51. She edged out three-time Berlin Marathon champion Gladys Cherono (2:20:52) and Mary Keitany, a three-time London champ and four-time NYC champ (2:20:58).

Emily Sisson was the next runner in, finishing sixth in her first marathon in 2:23:08. There’s been talk of Sisson’s potential in the marathon for some time, and Sisson proved that it was well founded. Her time was only eight seconds off Jordan Hasay’s American debut record, which she ran at Boston in 2017.

The time was a little slower than Sisson had been planning, but she told Jonathan Gault of LetsRun (video link) after the race that she and Molly Huddle had to completely scrap their race plan once they saw the rest of the field (minus Sinead Diver, who forged ahead on her own for a bit) was starting conservatively.

Sisson and Huddle stayed with the main pack through 20K, but couldn’t hang with a surge shortly after, despite hitting their fastest paces of the race. Sisson ran the first half of her race in 1:11:49 and the second half in 1:11:19, and in speeding up marginally, she moved up through the field, from 10th at 25K to eighth at 30K, seventh at 35K, and into sixth by 40K.

Behind Sisson, Sinead Driver, 42, of Australia and formerly Ireland, finished seventh in a personal best of 2:24:11.

Huddle finished 12th in 2:26:33. It was a personal best by 11 seconds, but not the day she was looking for. She told LetsRun (video link) that she didn’t feel good from about 10K on, and that sometimes it’s just not your day. I imagine it’s of little consolation to Huddle at this point, but without her, it’s hard to imagine Sisson’s debut, or post-collegiate career, going as smoothly as it has. (London Marathon results)
 

More about Jordan Hasay than we’ve heard in a while

Jordan Hasay went on the Citius Mag podcast last week and talked about a wide range of topics--wearing her late mother’s ring again at the Boston Marathon, and knowing she’s having a good workout when her coach, Alberto Salazar, stops doing pushups and situps while timing her and pays more attention to the workout.

She gives more details on the wetsuit top she was considering wearing if conditions were like the 2018 Boston Marathon, and she tells the story of being drug tested for the first time at a track meet when she was 11 years old.

She also mentioned that the runners in her group didn’t need to race as often because roughly every 10 days or so, they do either a long run or a long interval workout that is a race-like effort, both mentally and physically. She said a couple times that she excels on hills—something to remember heading into next year’s Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta.

Lindsey Hein’s podcast with Hasay came out two days later. Hasay told Hein that for much of the Boston Marathon, fans called her Des, but she said, “They’re rooting for both of us, so whatever name they want to call me is fine.”

Hasay said that chances are she won’t run a new American marathon record in Chicago, because there are so many factors that would have to work out—a good buildup, good weather, and good pacing on race day. But she wanted to put her goal out there anyway, because it’s good for the sport. Hein also got the details on Hasay’s boyfriend, since she’s fond of the how-they-met stories.
 

Fast high school miles at Penn Relays

Many of the best high school runners in the country raced at Penn Relays last week, though they did not all run the same race. The girls’ high school mile was a rematch of the top three finishers at New Balance Indoor Nationals, and this time, their order was reversed.

West Virginia’s Victoria Starcher ran a 64-second last lap to win the race in 4:38.19 and took 1.09 seconds off Mary Cain’s meet record. (Here’s a good post-race video interview with her.) Pennsylvania’s Marlee Starliper and Taryn Parks went 2–3 in 4:42.30 and 4:46.73.

In the next event of the night, the high school distance medley relay championship, Katelyn Tuohy ran the 1600m anchor leg for her North Rockland (NY) team in 4:36.94, a time that would put her close behind Starcher if converted to a mile (which is 9.34 meters longer). Claire Walters anchored the winning Fayetteville-Manlius team in 4:43.34.

Two days later, in windy conditions, Foot Locker cross country champion Sydney Masciarelli competed in the Olympic Development women’s mile, after playing basketball instead of running indoor track in the winter, and finished eighth in 4:55.65, despite running much of the race in lane two. The race went out slowly and was won by Ce’Aira Brown (who broke 4:30 indoors) in 4:44.29.

Girls high school miling is fast right now, and the most exciting part is that there is not one dominant runner, but a handful of them.
 

Other results

  • Nikki Hiltz won the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships at the Grand Blue Mile in Des Moines, Iowa, in an event record of 4:29.7. It was her third win in 10 days, including the B.A.A. Invitational Mile in Boston and her 800m win (2:01.37) at the Bryan Clay Invitational in California. Hiltz posted after the race that next time, she’ll dream of wrapping herself in not just an American flag but a pride flag as well.

  • Alexa Efraimson won the Drake Relays mile, running 4:13.18 in unpleasant conditions. At race time, the temperature was reportedly 38 degrees with a wind chill of 28.

  • Providence College’s Bri Ilarda won the steeplechase at Penn Relays in a meet record of 9:55.43. She already has an NCAA-leading time of 9:50.42.

  • 800m specialist Raevyn Rogers ran an excellent 400m leg to anchor the U.S. to a sprint medley victory at Penn Relays. There’s a good video of her last 200+ meters here.

  • Margo Malone of the Mammoth Track Club won the Zurich Marathon by a comfortable margin on Sunday morning. Her time of 2:42:22 qualifies her for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

  • Emma Bates won the Silo District Half Marathon, which benefits the Brave Like Gabe Foundation, in 1:16:37.

  • Senbere Teferi won the Healthy Kidney 10K in New York City in 30:59, a new event record, and came close to Lornah Kiplagat’s Central Park record of 30:44. Harriott Kelly (34:19 for fifth) led a strong contingent of NYC-area women. (Results)

  • Katy Jermann (32:43) finished second to Kenya’s Vicoty Chepngeno (32:15) at the Get in Gear 10K, which served as the RRCA 10K Championship. (Results)

  • Courtney Dauwalter won the Madeira Island Ultra-Trail, a 115K/71.5 mile race, in 15:17:07. (Results)

  • Congratulations to the editor of this newsletter, Sarah Lorge Butler, who ran her first marathon in 17 years on Sunday (and then edited this). Without her, this newsletter wouldn’t exist, nor would it be as good. Any errors you see are introduced after her edits. It’s been fun to work on this project with her, use her as a sounding board, and to generally feel like this is a team effort, even if only we knew that (until now). Also, check out her amusing Twitter thread about what she learned in her race.

Other news

  • Occasionally a male runner makes it in here... Champion mountain runner Joseph Gray posted about the lack of media coverage of minority trail and distance athletes, as well as the relative lack of opportunities (sponsorships, training opportunities), particularly for black American runners. He asks how we’re going to inspire the next generation of black American distance runners if they can’t see role models who look like them. To offset this, Gray is soliciting suggestions for young black distance runners in Colorado who he can connect with and help inspire. I’ll have more to say about this next week.

  • Lonah Chemtai Salpeter wrote about gender equality in running. She said that while many things are equal in running (prize money, race distances), media coverage is not, and she attributes that partially to the fact that most of the journalists covering the sport are male. She wrote specifically about winning the Rome-Ostia Half Marathon, looking for coverage, and mostly only finding coverage of the men’s race.

  • Elizabeth Carey wrote about trail races working toward gender equality.

  • This is the adorable story, from Runner’s World’s Andrew Dawson, of Des Linden giving her Boston Marathon bib to a three-year-old fan who is also named Des.

  • Shalane Flanagan provided some details about her surgery and the recovery process is now under way.

  • This piece features the women of the Juventus Track Club and discusses the club’s ties to the Penn Relays. Team members include Ajee’ Wilson, Raevyn Rogers, Charlene Lipsey, and Angel Piccirillo.

  • Runner’s World’s Hailey Middlebrook writes about how Kellyn Taylor, who began fostering two young children during her Prague Marathon buildup, thrives on chaos.

  • Allie Kieffer announced that she has parted ways with Coach Brad Hudson. And if you have any questions about anything Kieffer-related, she likely answered them in this episode of the Running Rogue podcast, released yesterday. She talked about her move to Austin, Texas, her coaching change (beginning around the 19:00 mark), and her new agent, who has helped Kieffer become more financially comfortable.

  • The inspiring story of Christine Westcott, 49, who ran her first sub-3:00 marathon in this year’s Boston Marathon. She crossed the line in 2:58:48 two days after setting a new 5K PR at the B.A.A. 5K as well.

  • Both Taylor Dutch and Mario Fraioli put out content with runner-turned-triathlete Chelsea Sodaro (formerly Reilly) last week. Dutch wrote this Runner’s World article and Fraioli had her as a guest on his podcast. Sodaro was a national-class runner who ran 4:30 in the mile, 8:47 in the 3,000m, and 15:10 in the 5,000m. Injury frustrations led her to explore triathlon, where she quickly excelled. Sodaro said in the podcast that she hasn’t completely ruled out a return to competitive running at point, and cited Malindi Elmore as an inspiration.

  • Two of Great Britain’s best marathoners, Lily Partridge and Charlotte Purdue, have been told they don’t look like marathoners, and have been the target of a wide range of ignorant comments over the years. But Partridge said, “As long as I’m performing at a level I want to, and I’m healthy and happy, then whether that means something wobbles or not, that doesn’t bother me. Performance is more important to me than how my body looks.” (Speaking of performance, Purdue finished 10th in London in 2:25:38 and Partridge finished 17th in 2:31:53)

  • Sara Vaughn said that though there are many unknown variables involved, 21 weeks into her pregnancy, she plans on doing what she can to make it to the starting line of the 2020 Olympic Track & Field Trials, approximately 9-½ months after she expects her fourth child to arrive. Vaughn finished seventh in the 1500m at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials 11 months after her third daughter, Cassidy, was born, and then she made the World Championships team in the 1500m the following year.

  • Colleen Quigley talks about building her brand. “Early on, she says she was occasionally teased by other athletes who didn’t quite understand the value of personal brands in the digital age...Today, brands reach out to her and fans recognize her in public.”

  • Taylor Dutch wrote an article for Runner’s World about Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel, who ran this year’s Boston Marathon to raise awareness about indigenous women who are missing and/or have been murdered. The article quotes the statistic that 84 percent of indigenous women have experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence. Daniel ran Boston in 3:02:11 and she hopes to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (by running 2:45:00 or faster).

  • On the latest episode of the Injured Athletes Club podcast, Kaitlin Goodman discusses how a run-in with a distracted driver almost a year ago changed the course of her running career. But at least one good thing came out of the incident as it led to her decision to get a dog.

  • I’m a fan of pretty much everything Alex Hutchinson writes, and I’m including this article, in which he reviewed a study of marathoners and the effects of probiotics on GI distress, because I know too many marathoners who experience GI distress. The results appear to be somewhat promising.

  • Yoshio Koide, who coached Naoko Takahashi to Olympic gold and Yuko Arimori to Olympic silver and bronze in the marathon, died last week at 80. The linked article describes his “unconventionally collegial relationship” with the athletes he coached, and the ways in which he adapted his coaching style to fit the personality of each athlete.

  • Konstanze Klosterhalfen wrote that she’s now an official member of the Nike Oregon Project, though I’m not sure most fans would notice the difference between what  she was doing before (training with the group) and being an official member.

  • Lauren Stroud ran a 1:22:29 half-marathon while pushing her 8-month-old daughter in a stroller, which is a pending Guinness world record. Stroud qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and hopes to make it to the 2020 Trials as well.

Upcoming

Entries for the Payton Jordan Invitational are out, and it should be a really good meet. The event takes place on Thursday night at Stanford University, with the middle-distance and distance events beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET. The event will be streamed live on FloTrack.

The Prague Marathon takes place on Sunday, May 5, and appears to start at 3:00 a.m. ET. It is scheduled to air on NBC Sports Gold. This will be an opportunity for Kellyn Taylor, whose personal best from last year is 2:24:28, to meet the Olympic qualifying standard either by finishing in the top five (since it’s an IAAF Gold Label race) or running 2:29:30 or faster.

The USA Half Marathon Championships also take place on Sunday, May 5 in Pittsburgh. Emma Bates, Sara Hall, and Stephanie Bruce headline the field.

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Thanks for reading!

Alison

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