Fast times abounded, as usual, in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon, Sun, Sept. 21 – and the runner who stole this traveling road show was the incomparable Deena Kastor as she broke the Masters women's world record for the half-marathon by running a sizzling 1:09:36 at age 41!

In a competition that saw two men go under an hour in the men’s race and three women break 1:10 in the women’s race, Kastor showed she was on target to do something special right from the starting gun.

Kastor, who now lives and trains at altitude in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., where her husband, Andrew, coaches the elite Mammoth Lakes Track Club, hung close to Aberu Kebede of Ethiopia and Caroline Rotich of Kenya in the early kilometers of the race. Only after 10 kilometers did she back off, but by then she had gotten herself well situated to challenge, if not break, the Masters world record of 1:09:59 set by Russia’s Irina Permitina in 2008.

Afterwards Kastor said, “You know, I got a side stitch at about six miles, and so slowed down a little bit to try to breathe it out. But I think I needed that little discomfort to make me hunker down just a little bit. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought.”

As the Ethiopian Kebede broke away from the Kenyan Rotich after about 11 kilometers and went on to win convincingly in 1:08:39, Kastor was left on her own on the roads to face her ongoing moments of truth as she fixated on staying close to or ahead of world record pace.

“I felt ready today (to go for the record),” she said later, but admitted the final kilometers were a real struggle for her.

“I wasn’t feeling great,” she said candidly. “I kept doing the math: I don’t have it, I do have it, no, I don’t have it. I kept having that mental battle, am I on or am I off? Give up, or should I dig down? And I ended up digging down for it. You don’t get many chances like this, (so I) dug down and was able to get under (the record).” 

As Kenya’s Rotich came across the finish line second in 1:09:21, the crowd began to cheer in anticipation of Kastor’s finish. The American living legend of the roads pushed herself up the final grade, made the gentle left turn to the finish and crossed the line third in 1:09:36, improving on the world record by 23 seconds, which is a substantial margin at this level of competition. Breaking the Masters world record for the half-marathon had been one of her major goals for 2014.

Deena Kastor, who’s 5’4”, 104 pounds, holds the American records in the marathon (2:19:36), the half-marathon (1:07:34) and at numerous other road distances, she was an eight-time U.S. champion in cross-country, and won the bronze medal in the women’s marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Her performance in Philadelphia was the second fastest half-marathon by an American woman this year – and, as mentioned before, she’s  41!

Another American who ran well in Philadelphia was Kara Goucher, who was using this race to gauge her fitness for the New York City Marathon to be run on Nov. 2. She finished sixth in the Rock ‘n” Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon in 1:11:39, which was inside her goal of 72 minutes.

“Everything felt great,” Goucher, who’s now 36 and was the bronze medalist in the 10,000 at the 2007 World Championships, said afterwards. “I just didn’t have, like, that really swift turnover, but I felt like I could have kept going if I had to. I just felt like I was maxed out at the pace I was at.”

While Deena Kastor was setting the world Masters record and Sara Goucher was successfully testing her fitness for the New York City Marathon, still another American woman wedged herself between the two of them in the standings at Philadelphia. Laura Thweatt, 25, of Boulder, Colo., made a noteworthy debut in the half-marathon as she ran 1:11:01 to finish fourth.

In the men’s race at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon, Kenyans swept the top four positions as Bedan Karoki, 24, won in 59:23, which is 4:32 per mile pace, and Cybrian Kotut, 22, was the runner-up in 59:58.

Geoffrey Bundi, 26, finished third in 1:01:25, and Wilfred Kimitei, 29, fourth in 1:02:08.

The first American finisher in the race was Gabe Proctor, 24, of the Mammoth Lakes Track Club, who was ninth in 1:03:03.

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