In the Interim--Part 1

While Cross Country is a legitimate season (and sport!), it just doesn't fit the parameters of this blog---lists of records and marks.
One can make the case for lists of best times on XYZ courses, but that's just not the same as records made on standardized tracks and fields.
Thus I'm calling these months (October and November) the "interim" (between outdoor and indoor track and field)!
But there have been a few marks worth reporting.

Today's Chicago Marathon offered a few....a very few!!
So did the Asian Games.

The Chicago race was somewhat odd, in that the pacing was bad, yet good times were run.
The first two miles were supposedly 4:34 and 4:53!
But in the end, they settled in to the 4:42 to 4:50 range.
That is, until Eliud Kipchoge decided to show why fast 5K and 10K guys can win marathons....easily!
His 2:04:11 didn't break any records (Not even his own!), but it won the race!

In 2nd was Sammy Kitwara in 2:04:28.
It makes him 12th A-T World!
And it's the new Age 27 record!

Dickson Chumba's 2:04:32 is the new best-ever 3rd place record!
It also rates him 13th A-T World, tied with one other.

Amy Hastings led the slow Women's race for awhile, but inevitably faded.
She wound up with a time that TIED her PR of 2:27:03!!
So she remains as 9th A-T US!

I must make note-----call it Hometown Pride!!----of the great improvement made by Sarah (Porter) Crouch.
She starred for years at Western Washington University here in Bellingham (as Sarah Porter), running in the mid-15:30's and 32:30's for 5K and 10K.
She's now a Pro, and just turned 25 in August.

In an interview, she said she'd run her 1st marathon in a small race when 19 years old.
Her time----she thinks!!----was 3:00:10.
Next 26.2 was the NYC race in 2011, where she ran 2:44:25.
Today?
She cut 11:41 from her PR, her time being 2:32:44!
She was 3rd American in Chicago!!

In the Gulf Coast Marathon in Australia, Jeff Eggleston ran a solid 2:10:52 (Faster than Bobby Curtis ran in Chicago as best American there!).
His time misses my DDD list by just 23 seconds!

The Asian Games produced 3 decent marks.

Fermi Ogunode sprinted the 100 in 9.93 for the National Record of Qatar.

The 4X100 Relay team of China ran 37.99 for their National Record.
They moved from 20th A-T World to 9th best team!

And Oinggong Zhao threw the Javelin 292-6 for the China National Record.
He's now 14th A-T World, tied with 1 other.

For the record, Molly Huddle ran 1:09:23 in today's Boston AAA Half.
It took 3rd, but wasn't a PR.
Right behind Huddle was Half-rookie Betsy Saina in 1:09:27!
Also, Lisa Uhl ran 2:40:51 in Chicago.
That was her first marathon, and was run off a short training cycle!

A little bit of "news" from the Indoor Track and Field corner.

Raven Saunders announced that her first meet as a Collegian will be the 1st week of December.

Penn State announced their Indoor schedule.
It includes TEN meets, the first on December 13th.
(Remember that both the Men's and Women's 4X200 Relay teams broke Collegiate Records on their home track the past two years!)

Next post will probably be after the New York City Marathon!