Runnerville

Wesley Korir and Edna Kiplagat, both of Kenya, christened the new “Stadium to Sea” race course in Los Angeles with victories in the silver anniversary of the West Coast’s largest 26-miler.  Kiplagat’s 2:25:38 winning time brought her to the Santa Monica finish line ahead of any other runner, male or female, to earn her the $100,000 Gender Challenge bonus.  Korir’s 2:09:19 winning time was nearly a minute slower than his performance last year on the old loop course that stayed within the confines of the L.A. city borders. 

The new layout took the runners on a scenic journey from Dodger Stadium, through downtown LA, out to Hollywood, then Beverly Hills, Brentwood, and finally Santa  Monica.  The undulating 26 miles descended 480 feet in elevation start-to-finish - Boston falls 430 feet - and was a major factor in the event growing by 44% to a sold-out 25,000.  However, the elevation drop, just like at Boston, did have its consequences.

“The course was not as fast as advertised,” wrote Linda Somers Smith, the 48 year-old sixth place women’s finisher (2:36:33) from San Luis Obispo.  “The first eight miles were pretty tough.  The long downhill just before eight miles and after, combined with the first six miles of hills was long enough to take a lot out of the quads.  My left quad is sore from the camber of the road.”

 Elite athlete coordinator Bill Orr also reported other professionals suffering from the quad-busting nature of the downhill route.  Not withstanding, Edna Kiplagat ran the third fastest time ever in the L.A. event, breaking away from Ethiopia’s Teyba Naser in mile 23, then blitzing the final three downhill miles on beautiful San Vincente Boulevard in 5:10, 5:09, and 5:10.  

Wesley Korir, celebrating his marriage the week before to fellow University of Louisville trackster Tarah McKay, broke free from his final Kenyan competitors Richard Limo and Paul Samoei in mile 25.  Later, he admitted that the men’s race had turned tactical in the second half which kept the men from catching the women in the Gender Challenge, while slowing the winning time by several minutes.  After the race he confirmed his pre-race belief that a 2:06 - 2:07 clocking would be possible on the L.A. course. 

Kiplagat ran negative splits of 1:13:40 and 1:11:58.  The men went from a 1:04:30 first half to a 1:04:49 second half.  Meaning the men were only down 13-seconds on the Challenge through half-way based on the 18:47 total advantage the women were awarded at the start, or 43-seconds per mile.  At 17 miles, the men had shaved the women’s advantage to only eight seconds on the Challenge pace, before losing 2:30 from there to the finish. 

The key mile in the Challenge was mile 18 which the women ran in 5:24, the men in 5:06.  Based on the differential, the men needed to match the women’s 5:24 with a 4:41 of their own.  They lost 25-seconds to the women in that one mile alone.  But Wesley Korir won the Challenge last year, and was happy to become only the second man ever to defend an L.A. title, joining fellow Kenyan Stephen Ndungu who won in 2001 & 2002.   

Overall, the major course change created some understandable logistical problems for the organizers who bussed thousands of runners to the start from Santa Monica.  Considering the everyday nightmare that is LA traffic, the jam near the stadium resulted in an approximately 17-minute holdup for the start.  But once underway, the vast majority of participants found the iconic sights of L.A., and the cooling run to the sea a big improvement on the old route. 

END   

• London Recap - May 4th, 2010
• What are you running for? - May 3rd, 2010
• Solinsky AR 26:59.60!!! - May 2nd, 2010
• London Preview - April 23rd, 2010
• 1988 Olympic Gold Meets 2004 Silver - April 21st, 2010