The Downhill Doozie: 3M Half= Fast Times
Sunday, January 30, 2005
by Bob Wischnia
The Downhill Doozie:
3M Half = Fast Times
By Bob Wischnia
It’s a given that the 3M Half Marathon course is a screamer as it plunges 13.1 miles from the north to the finish near downtown. And with ideal conditions on Sunday—a gentle mist, cool temperatures and mostly friendly winds—3M was a perfect day for quality times and PR’s. It certainly was a perfect day for Brian Sell who had come to Austin from the frozen north in search of a national-class time.
Mission accomplished.
Sell, a 26-year-old with a marathon best of 2:13:18, was an easy winner in the 11th running of the 3M Half Marathon. Sell flew down the hills from the Gateway Shopping Center on the north to south course to run a personal best of 1:02:59 and win by more than a minute over Jae Yung Hyung of Korea who finished in 1:04:11.
“I ran mostly by myself,” said Sell after crossing the finish line at House Park Field. “It would have been nice to have someone to run with, but after the first mile (reached in 5:08 into a head wind) nobody went with me. I picked it up after that and just felt great. I improved my half marathon PR by almost a minute today {it was 63:53} so I feel very good about that. This course is awesome. The streets were a little slick, but this is easily the fastest course I have ever run. I thought I could run 1:04 today so I’m very happy with my time. I’d love to come back next year when I’m in really good shape.”
Sell, who runs for the Hanson Brooks Racing Team out of Detroit, injured a knee weight training three weeks ago and his status for 3M was in doubt until just last week. But he decided to join the large contingent of Hanson runners coming to Austin to get out of the cold, snowy weather and once here, felt fit enough to race. He plans to hang around town for at least another week to help teammate Clint Verran (who was fourth in 1:04:56) get ready for the Freescale Marathon on February 13th.
Verran, like many of the 3200 runners in 3M, was holding something back for Freescale. “I felt good out there today,” said Verran who ran about a minute slower than his PR, “but because of the downhill nature of the course I didn’t want to go for it this morning. I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks here training for Freescale which is my main goal. My marathon best is 2:14:17 and I want to lower that here. That’s what I’ll be shooting for.”
Leading the Central Texans in 3M were Peter Vail (1:07:38), 42-year-old Paul Zimmerman of Cedar Creek (1:08:18) and Jeff Shelton (1:09:32). Juan Martinez was the first master in 1:06:52.
In the women’s race, Angelica Sanchez of Mexico dominated the field even more than Sell did. The 33-year-old ran away from Jackie Rzpecki of the Hanson team to win by more than two minutes in 1:13:50. Rzpecki, a University of Houston grad, ran 1:15:44 to improve her PR by almost a minute, while Jenny Derago was third in 1:15:57. Former Texas Tech star Leigh Daniel (who also runs for Hanson’s) was fourth in 1:16:16. Debbie Leyden, a 44-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota, was first master in 1:16:57. Lori Stich-Zimmerman led the Central Texas women with a 1:18:48.
This was the seventh race in the Distance Challenge Series with only the biggie—the Freescale Austin Marathon—remaining on the calendar. Marathon day is just two weeks away—and counting.