by Larry Eder
Josh Cox, P.F. Chang’s RNR Arizona, photo by PhotoRun.net. Kara Goucher finished second in her first race in over a year, running 1:14:02. Kara and her husband, Adam Goucher, became the proud parents in November of a son, Colt. The new parents spent much of the last week in an out of the hospital as Colt had developed an infection. The half marathon was probably the easiest part of her week. Thankfully, their son is doing much better.
Adam & Kara Goucher with their son, Colt, photo by PhotoRun.net.
The start of P.F. Changs RNR Half Marathon, photo by PhotoRun.net
Kara Goucher Returns to
the Roads at P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona
Cox crushes own
U.S. 50K record; Meyerhoff wins women’s marathon; Forrest takes first pro race;
wheelchair course record smashed; nearly 30,000 participants at 8th edition in
the Valley of the Sun
PHOENIX – (January 16, 2011) – It’s no secret
that Kara
Goucher
doesn’t like to lose. And that doesn’t bode well for her competition at April’s
Boston Marathon.
Goucher, 32, returned to road racing at the P.F. Chang’s
Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half-Marathon Sunday morning, overcoming an
adversity-filled week to finish second in the woman’s 13.1-mile race. Despite
accomplishing her goals of shaking off the rust and toeing a start line after
more than a year away from the sport, the 2008 Olympian left the finish line at
Arizona State University with her competitive fire burning a little hotter.
Kara Goucher, P.F. Chang’s RNR Half Marathon, photo by PhotoRun.net.
“I don’t like to lose and I don’t like to
not run fast, I’m definitely ready to get home and work out. It’s motivating
for sure,” said Goucher, who is ninety-two days away from Marathon Monday
in Boston. “I had a great experience, but it stings a little. I’m not used
to…not only losing, but being so far out of it. I accomplished what I needed
to today, but I’m leaving here hungrier than when I arrived.”
The top-ranked U.S. women’s marathoner in 2009,
Goucher was previously unbeaten over the half-marathon distance. She finished
with an official time of 1:14:02, with Madai Perez of Mexico
winning in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 49 seconds. Perez, who has finished 11th and
15th at recent World Championship Marathons and placed 19th at the 2008 Beijing
Olympic Marathon, led from the start clocking a 5:12 opening mile.
“I thought I was in shape to run 73
minutes, but I’m fine with the time,” Goucher added, running 34:40 for the
first 10K. “My coach wanted me to run 5:40s through 8 or 9 miles and then
pick it up if I could, so I ran 5:40s but couldn’t pick it up and what I had is
what I had. I hung steady and I think I ran a 5:40 pace throughout so he
[Alberto Salazar] is happy based on the workouts I had, and especially after
the week that I had.”
In the days before the race, it was uncertain if
Goucher would even be able to make it to the start line in Arizona. She spent
two mostly sleepless nights in a Portland hospital earlier in the week with her
16-week-old son, Colt, who needed fluid drained from an abscess on his jaw
caused by an infection. The emergency impacted not only the final training for
her first race since the 2009 World Championships Marathon, but delayed her
travel plans as well.
“Overall it was nice to be back out there.
Last night [Saturday] I forgot to do a lot of things I used to do by second
nature,” she added. “It was overwhelming. It was a hectic week. I
didn’t get much sleep, not much rest.”
Josh Cox, 35, won his second
consecutive Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in 2:17:32 and then continued on to the
Arizona State University track where he crushed his U.S. record for 50
kilometers by more than 3½ minutes, but just missed the world mark by 7
seconds. He completed the 50K (31.05 miles) with an official time of 2 hours,
43 minutes and 45 seconds.
“Seven seconds is hard to swallow,”
commented Cox (left, PhotoRun), referring to South African Thompson
Magawana‘s
world best of 2:43:38 from 1988. “But I’m happy. The American record is
nothing to hang your head about. I did everything I could to click off those
final miles. I’ll be back. I would like to run the world record here in two
years. I’d like to give it another shot … that ever-elusive world
record.”
Shawn Forrest of Australia won the
men’s half-marathon in 1:03:07, 15 seconds ahead of Cox’s Mammoth Track Club
training partner, Alistair Cragg of Ireland.
“The first mile I just wanted to sit and
get into a rhythm and then I planned to pick it up, depending on how I
felt,” Forrest said after the race. “I felt great and went for it. I
really wanted to win so I’m happy.”
Local resident Sally Meyerhoff of Tempe earned
her first marathon victory in the women’s event in 2:37:56. The 2009 USA 25K
champion topped a leader board in which five women qualified for the 2012 U.S.
Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston.
“I feel so awesome,” said Meyerhoff,
who last finished fifth at the event in 2009. “I’ve wanted to win this
race for the past three years. It was my first marathon in 2008 and to come
back in my third try to win is unbelievable.”
Scott Parsons of San Jose, Calif.
took the men’s wheelchair title, smashing the course record by more than five
minutes. Parsons finished with an official time of 1:39:55.
While most of the eastern seaboard shoveled
snow, nearly 30,000 entrants from all 50 states and 23 countries were greeted
by 70 degree sunshine for the 8th annual road race that begins in downtown
Phoenix, runs through Scottsdale and finishes adjacent to Sun Devil Stadium in
Tempe.
Notable half-marathon participants included Ali Vincent, winner of the
fifth season of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser”, Jeff McMahon, keyboardist
for Tim McGraw’s band The Dancehall Doctors and Michellie Jones, 2006 Ironman
champion, who at age 41 came through the finish line as the top Master in 9th
place overall in 1:22:41.
PHOTOS
Half-Marathon
Start (credit: asiphoto.com)
http://arizona.competitor.com/
Kara
Goucher (credit: photorun.net)
http://arizona.competitor.com/
Josh
Cox 50k (credit: photorun.net)
http://arizona.competitor.com/
8th P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon
Phoenix,
AZ, Sunday, January 16, 2011
MEN
1) Josh Cox (CA), 2:17:32*
2) Solomon Kandie (KEN), 2:18:40
3) Roosevelt Cook (CA), 2:25:24
4) Allen Wagner (NM), 2:26:53
5) Frank Therrian (AZ), 2:28:16
*post-marathon, set pending U.S. 50K record of 2:43:45 (previous record,
2:47:17, Josh Cox (CA), P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona, 01/18/09)
WOMEN
1) Sally Meyerhoff (AZ), 2:37:56
2) Gina Slaby (AZ), 2:42:21
3) Liana Bernard (OR), 2:42:28
4) Jennifer Santa Maria (CA), 2:44:39
5) Ariana Hillborn (AZ), 2:45:37
8th P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona ½
Marathon
MEN
1) Shawn Forrest (AUS), 1:03:07
2) Alistair Cragg (IRL), 1:03:22
3) Joseph Chirlee (CO), 1:05:00
4) Mike Aish (CO), 1:05:18
5) Bret Schoolmeester (OR), 1:05:38
WOMEN
1) Madai Perez (MEX), 1:11:49
2) Kara Goucher (OR), 1:14:02
3) Emily Kroshus (CAN), 1:15:18
4) Wendy Thomas (CO), 1:17:11
5) Nicole Aish (CO), 1:19:00
For complete results, photos and more, go to: Competitor.com
