Annmarie Tuxbury returned to the site of her 2022 marathon personal best last weekend at the California International Marathon and came away with another PR. Annmarie came into the race with a 2:31:29 personal best from that race, where she placed 12th. This year, Annmarie ran with the intention of running faster and finishing higher. She accomplished both.
Annmarie started the race patiently, but by 10k had already positioned herself in 6th place in the 50-woman strong elite field and was running sub-2:30 pace. She felt strong and looked great passing 10 miles in the top 4. After the halfway mark, passed in 1:14:21 Annmarie moved into 3rd place, and began to lead the pack she was running with. She was running slightly quicker than her 1:15:00 target time, but felt strong, and similar to the way she felt in 2022 when she ran a big negative split en route to a big PR.
As she approached 18 miles her quads began to show signs of fatigue and she knew, like any marathoner after 20 miles, that the final miles were going to require every ounce of her fortitude. Despite slowing slightly from 30-35k into the low 5:50’s per mile, from the 5:40 pace she averaged through the halfway mark, Annmarie continued to press forward. She was in 4th place by 35k, and while most athletes would have continued to slow Annmarie was able to stem the tide, maintaining her 5:51 pace from 35-40k and picking getting back under 5:40 pace from 40k to the finish.
It was an incredible display of grit and perseverance. She came through in 4th place, and sprinting the final straightaway to just miss a sub-2:30 clocking, came away with an 1:25 personal best, running 2:30:04 to secure the finest performance of her career.
The PR was the 2nd for her this year, she also ran a half marathon PR (1:11:58) this summer, and the 23rd PR for the team this year. You can find full results here.