Tristin Van Ord, Andrew Colley, and Annmarie Tuxbury drove to Kiawah Island, SC over the weekend to toe the line at the Kiawah Half Marathon. They used the race, which Tyler Pennel and Tristin both used last year as a hard effort before running personal bests at the Houston Marathon, as a longer progressive effort as part of their buildup toward the Olympic Trials.
For each athlete the goal was to progress every 5k, starting roughly 15-20 seconds per mile slower than their goal marathon pace. All 3 of them executed the race perfectly, progressing throughout and making each 5k a touch quicker than the previous 5k. The only exception was Annmarie, who accidentally took a wrong turn and went off the course for about 90 seconds. Her final splits looked fairly even, but her effort was certainly progressive.
After having company for the opening 2-3 miles, Andrew pulled away early and cruised to a comfortable victory 3 1/2 minutes ahead of the 2nd place finisher. His final time was 1:05:03. Tristin took the win on the women’s side (and placed 3rd overall), running 1:13:43. And despite the wrong turn Annmarie finished runner-up to Tristin on the women’s side and 9th overall.
You can find the full results along with splits here.