From Lauren Carter of the Open:
Alysia Dusseau
Our Fall Marathon Season opened with Lindsay Kos running a 3:19:43 in the VIA Lehigh Marathon and Shawnessy Dusseau running a 3:31:44 in the Wineglass Marathon. These ladies were our first Boston Qualifiers.
Columbus Day Weekend the Women’s Open Team took on Chicago! With 3 runners under the 3 hour mark, they proved they are a forced to be reckoned with no matter what city they visit. Leading the team to a first place finish was Kir Selert with her 2:49:49 finish. Her first time under the 2:50 mark! Katie Casto came in shortly behind her solidifying the Marathon as her distance of choice with a 50s PR for a time of 2:51:56. The PRs don’t stop there. Alex Bernardi was our third woman under 3 hours, finishing in 2:54:02 and setting an amazing 4 minute and 4 second PR. Success did not stop at the 3 hour mark for our ladies. Veronica Jackson and Jacy Kruzel held their heads high and toughed it through with 3:03:24 and 3:12:22 finishes respectively. Meredith Kennedy finished in 3:26:09, about a minute and half faster than her Harrisburg finish last year.
Two weeks later, Ambreleah Dusseau took to the streets of DC for the Marine Corp Marathon for the first time since 2008 when she ran her first ever marathon. Ambreleah smashed her PR by a whopping 5 minutes with a 3:16:48 finish time. She also qualified for Boston.
The first weekend in November Lady Orange fought against the whirling winds on streets of NYC in the NYC Marathon. Kate Pfeffer lead the way with her 2:57:29 PR. Alysia Dusseau proved this is no family to mess with. She fought the fierce winds to finish with 3:11:20, and Yumi Ogita rounded out the Marathon scoring with her 3:12:29 finish.
Kate Pfeffer
Photo: Sue Pearsall
The NYC Marathon saw achievements far beyond that of our scoring team though. Annie Onishi, both med student and runner, completed the race on very little training (and possibly sleep) in fantastic 3:14:52, and although she had hit thewall early in the race, Grace White held on to finish to have a solid finish with a time of 3:17:00. Proving that rest is equally as important as the workout, Sari Aviv went on to run a 3:19:22 on minimal training. Rest can be good but Amy Kvilhaug and Dani Sturtz proved that a grueling training schedule can also be beneficial. Both ladies finished less than 2 minutes off their marathon PRs with 3:20:57 and 3:25:50 respective finishes, and Jean Seestadt finished just prior, posting a PR of 3:20:41.
Jean Seestadt
All great accomplishments on a windy day. Kristen Piedersen and Marisa Galloway posted back to back finishes with their perfect pacing completing the NYC Marathon in 3:24:10 and 3:24:27 respectively. Jane Manfred crossed the finish in 3:27:58 with Debbie Lee following her in 3:36:02.
Marisa Galloway
Congratulations to all of our marathoners this Fall! We have two more ladies Marathon bound in two weeks, so be sure to check back for their highlights!
From Ani Go of the 40+:
Don’t call it a comeback!
The great Yumi Ogita ran the NYC Marathon on Sunday! Having battled foot and knee injury through part of the year, Yumi has the heart and spirit of a true runner. Not satisfied to be a spectator, she tested her road skills at the Poland Spring 5mi last week (in 31:37, placing 1st in age of course, 4th overall) and satisfied she could tackle the big race, went in to enjoy the marathon as her favorite meal. As she said “it was like I had a very long appetizer up to the Bronx, a short entree up to the Plaza Hotel and a very short desert of Central Park South.”Fun”. That is the word for my 2013 NY Marathon. Surprisingly, I did not suffer at all.” The agonizing hill on 5th Ave proved no match for her greatness, and her competitive fire struck at mile 20, when she heard the call of the hunt and picked off youngsters, finishing strong.
Her time of 3:12:29 was the odd bead on her normal string of sub-3’s, but still put her at a podium finish, 2nd place in age.
Yumi set out to have an early Thanksgiving dinner, and loved every bite. Sometimes a good race is how you feel about it when you’re done, and not about the clock. Now that’s a good meal!
From Sylvie Kimche of the 50+ and 60+:
We did not have a W60+ team…just the amazing 70yr-young Rae Baymiller going for the W70+ world mark.
For a reason unknown to anyone except the powers-that-be at the NYRR who probably thought they were doing her a favor, Rae got a start at 9:10am with the elite runners (and her name in big letters on her bib), only to be dropped immediately.
She was all alone to battle the nasty headwinds, in a no-woman’s land, with nobody in sight ahead or behind…. Quite an eerie feeling, being all by yourself in a field of supposedly thousands of runners….!!!
At least with her name in big letters on her bib, the crowds were cheering her on. One little kid even gave her a high five!!!!
Meanwhile Rae was having a good race, clipping miles at just under 8:00 pace until the Pulaski bridge. Then she started suffering from dehydration right after the half-way point, her legs felt wobbly and she had to stop a few times between miles 13 & 14 to get fluids & try to regain her strength. She continued valiantly for 2 more miles over the Queensboro bridge and into First Avenue when she had to call it quits shortly after mile 16….
Of course we’ll never know if she would have had the same dehydration issue, had she started with the sub-elite, had had more company along the way and the possibility to tuck behind someone to protect her from the wind….
In any case, Rae is already thinking of jumping into another marathon to use her recent training and go after that W70 world mark. However, she needs to first investigate this dehydration problem that has plagued her in the past few long races she’s run in 2013….
So Rae, good luck on your dehydration investigation & your next world record attempt and congrats on your valiant effort on Sunday!!!
Congrats to all our marathoners!!! Great job all on a tough day!
Sylvie
PS And congrats & thanks to the cheering CPTC crowd at 92nd & Fifth for looking smashing and making a real impact in your NB orange jackets. What a great “Wall of Orange!”
