Fortunately, the rain held off on Sunday morning to get the third annual Run for the Water 10-miler in without any precip. Unfortunately, the air was so deeply saturated (98 percent humidity) that it made for difficult running conditions on the tough, but beautiful west Austin course.
"People loved the race," said race director Peter Raugh of the sponsoring Gazelle Foundation, "but there weren’t many PRs out there this morning."
There was at least one.
Shauneen Garrahan, a 24-year-old UT law student, nailed a 1:01:02 which claimed the women’s title, but she also scored a PR.
Of course, it was the first 10-miler of her life.
"I didn’t know what to expect," said Garrahan who ran her first race in Austin since moving here in August. "Some people told me it was hilly so I wanted to just stay with the other women."
Garrahan went out conservatively in the first three miles (reached in 18:45) and was with Austin vets Carmen Troncoso and Cassie Henkiel (running her first race in a while). But on the ascent up Pecos toward the 5-mile mark, Garrahan steadily pulled away.
"The first few miles felt so good," said Garrahan who won four NCAA Division-3 titles for Amherst College in Massachusetts. "Even the hills didn’t feel too bad. Guess I’m a little stronger than I thought."
She should be. While at Amherst, Garrahan concentrated on the steeple and in June was a USATF finalist who spent the rest of her summer on the European track circuit. With a steeple PR of 10:03, Garrahan has plenty of speed—and strength.
In the second half of the Run for the Water, she hooked up with Michael Budde and opened up a minute lead on Troncoso--the 50-year-old wonder. Once Garrahan hit the flats near the Hula Hit, she opened up the throttle a bit and ran about 17:40 for the final three miles back to the finish at the South 1st Bridge.
"I’m really happy," said Garrahan, soon after winning in 1:01:02. "I hadn’t raced since the summer in Europe and didn’t know what to expect."
Expect a lot more out of Garrahan who has hooked up with UT women’s coach Steve Sisson for coaching advice. If everything goes to plan, Garrahan intends to run the steeplechase in the 2012 Olympic Trials.
"Steve’s been great for me," said Garrahan who swept the distance events at the NCAA (D-3) her senior year at Amherst, winning the steeple, 5000 and 10,000. "When I came here, I didn’t know anything about the running community and wasn’t sure there even was one. I was afraid I might have to give up running, but obviously this is the best running community in the country. It’s the perfect place for me to be and I love it."
It’s not a bad place for Keith Pierce either. The 29-year-old is a coach and teacher at Vandegrift HS in Leander and since moving here, has begun to make some serious inroads. A native Texan, Pierce has won the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth the past three years, but only recently moved to Central Texas. Since coming to town, Pierce has won the Cedar Perk 5-Miler in 24:52, but on Sunday showed that he’ll be a force on the roads.
He wasted no time as he forged a lead just a mile into the race. Pierce opened with a 5:20 first mile and then lowered the hammer which dislodged Kyle Miller, Derek Yorek and Derick Williamson from his tail.
"I never even saw him once we reached the hills," said Williamson who would finish in fifth, more than three minutes back.
The only runner who could mount a charge was Darren Brown. But Brown was doing the 10-miler as a workout. Still, his game plan was to accelerate in the second half and run the final three miles hard.
Good plan, but Brown waited too long to make any sort of run at Pierce who crossed the finish line in 51:33. Brown, the former UT star, was second in 52:16, Miller was third in 53:02, Yorek, the former Adams State runner, was fourth in 53:11 and Williamson, who had won IBM three weeks ago, was fifth in 54:57.
First masters runner of the morning was Jeff Shelton of Buda. The 41-year-old was doing a final tune-up for the San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in a week and ran 56:58 to finish seventh overall. He was followed by Lon Brietenbach, 40, in 59:00 and 41-year-old Steve Berrones took third in 1:00:40.
The first 50+ runner of the day—man or woman--was actually Carmen Troncoso (gives you an idea how good she is), but first 50+man was Dan Noonan, 51 in 1:05:30 who was followed closely by Tim Terwey, 51, in 1:05:37 with 53-year-old Greg Baxter in third in 1:07:46.
The 55+ were led by 58-year-old UT prof John La Claire, who got over the hills, in 1:10:17. Craig Potts, 55, was second in 1:12:45 (despite nursing a foot injury) and 59-year-old Robert Cervantes was third in 1:14:31.
In the women’s race, Troncoso had a fabulous morning (she loves hot weather) to finish second in 1:02:08 which held off Henkiel in third in 1:02:51. Laura Mayo was fourth in 1:05:39 and long striding Karen Saenz had a huge race to finish fifth in 1:06:21 as she preps for the Sacramento Marathon.
Other than Troncoso, the first masters woman of the day was 42-year-old Catherine Barrera (coached by Troncoso) who was sixth overall in 1:06:21. Frances Thurman, 43, was second in 1:11:11 and Jennifer Fisher, 42, was third in 1:11:46.
Leading the 50+ was Cindy Samok, 50, who ran 1:14:32. Mary Faria, 54, was second.
The third race in the 2009-2010 Austin Distance Challenge will be the always challenging Decker Half Marathon around Decker Lake on December 6th.
