Josh Izewski’s string of podium finishes continued at the Virginia 10 Miler with a 2nd place finish on the historic course. In her first race back coming off a summer break Annmarie ran her way into the top 10 with an 8th place finish.
On a typically warm, humid day the men’s race started out atypically slow. The first 1.5 miles of the race are downhill and the early pace is typically fast. But the leading contenders were content to be patient while carefully gauging their competitors. A pack of 12 athletes passed the 3 mile mark at 15:00, but things slowly began to speed up and by the time they got to 5 miles there were only 5 athletes remaining.
After a series of surges that broke apart the lead pack eventual winner, Josephat Too broke free at 7 miles. Josh remained in 4th place, 12 seconds off the lead. Josh moved his way up into 2nd as he entered the brutal, uphill final mile of the race. He began to gain ground on Too and separate himself from 3rd and 4th, and was able to close the gap to 8 seconds by the finish with his 48:54 time.
Coming in the midst of heavy marathon training, Josh was pleased with the effort and is eager to put the final touches on his preparations for the New York City Marathon in just over 3 weeks.
Annmarie came into the race in a much different place, using this race as an early season fitness test. She fought hard throughout the race, and despite the challenging nature of the course, felt strong and was able to notch a 58:49, 8th place performance.
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