The Fall racing season is heating up now that the weather has started to cool across the country and the RunnersConnect team is wasting no time setting a flurry of new PRs. It’s finally time for all of our athletes to show what lots of hard running and dedication during the summer training months can do.
Kicking off the weekend was Brent Frissora, who ran a new half marathon personal best at the Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon on Sunday. Brent’s time of 1:14:04 placed him 71st in a field of over 15,000 finishers. In the middle of some tremendous marathon preparation his great performance is an exciting indicator of things to come at the New York City Marathon.
Eva Wang also had a strong showing in Philadelphia on Sunday. She ran 1:36:20, missing her personal best by less than 30 seconds. It’s a great step toward her goals at the New York City Marathon. She’ll take another crack at breaking 1:35 on October 7th at the Staten Island Half Marathon.
Peter Kosgei (coached by Leo O’Conner and Blake Boldon) had a great finish to his summer racing season with an 18th place finish at the CVS Downtown 5k in Providence, RI. The race served as the USATF 5k National Championship and Peter’s time of 14:40.3 put him among the leaders. After running 14:36 on the roads a few weeks ago, Peter will now turn his attention to longer races to finish 2012.
Stuart White returned to racing action in the Corporate Challenge – Richardson 5k with a Runner-Up finish. He battled all the way to the finish line in his first race after a long hiatus from road races. His time of 18:02 is a great start and very encouraging as he prepares for his 50th birthday in 2013.
James Bonaugure ran a new 10k PR as part of a three man triathlon. The PR was a little surprising given James’ busy work schedule this last month, but it’s a testament to all the hard work and miles he put in this spring.
Joy Duling finished her second half marathon ever and crossed the line with a new PR of 2:46:24. Joy got lead a little astray by the 2:30 pacer opening with the first few miles closer to 10k pace than goal half marathon pace. However, Joy didn’t give up and pushed hard all the way through the finish. Just a year ago, Joy wasn’t even running and at the start of the summer, running 3 miles without stopping was a big accomplishment. Talk about a life changing result the last 4-5 months!
Great job by everyone who raced this weekend. Keep up the great work and let’s see those marathon and half marathon records start tumbling down these next few weeks!
