By David Prokop

Four Doubles have already been scheduled for 2013 – Overland Park, Kan., on June 30 (that’s where Bob Anderson, creator of the Double, grew up!), Denver, Colo. on July 21, Indianapolis, Inn. on Aug 11, Pleasanton, Calif., on Dec. 22. The amazing Christine Kennedy, who won the Double Victory Cup for best age-graded performance at the inaugural Pleasanton Double on Dec. 23, has confirmed she will compete in all of them. Another person who will compete in all three is … Bob Anderson! Bob is the only person who competed in all seven “practice” or trial Doubles that were held in Mexico and, of course, he ran in Pleasanton in what ultimately turned out to be the next-to-last race of his 50-Race Challenge, 

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Why do we say Christine Kennedy is “amazing”? One of the reasons is that at Pleasanton she not only had the best age-graded performance in winning the women’s 55-59 age group, setting a new Double Road Race™ world age-group record of 58:34 (39:14/19:19), but her time was faster than the Double world records in the 40-44, 45-49 and 50-54 age groups! In other words, at age 57 Christine has run the Double faster than any other woman over age 40! 

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One of the greatest quotes heard in the weeks after the Pleasanton Double came from Bill Dunn, who won the 65-69 age group at Pleasanton -- “I like the fact it’s a cerebral event, not just a physical event.” 

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Considering it was the first Double Road Race™ ever held in America and the caliber of competition was much higher than in the seven trial Doubles that had been held in Mexico, it’s not surprising there was a wholesale rewriting of the Double Road Race™ record book in Pleasanton. No fewer than 21 Double Road Race™ overall and age-group world records were set in Pleasanton! These included, of course, the overall men’s world record of 45:34 (30:31/15:02) by Fernando Cabada of Boulder, Colo., and the overall women’s world record of 54:08 (35:55/18:07) by Tina Kefalas of Hillsborough, Calif., (Tina represented Greece in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics in London). There were, however, three men’s age-group world records and one women’s age-group world record that survived from the Doubles held in Mexico. Here are those age-group world records: Men 19 and Under – Lemmy Barraza Lopez, age 17 – 53:14 (35:47/17:27); Men 40-44 – Juan Carlos Juarez, age 40 – 51:04 (34:30/16:34); Men 45-49 – Victor Alfredo Gonzalez Salcedo, age 46 –51:27 (34:15/17:12); Men 50-54 – Silvano de la Cruz, age 52 – 53:06 (35:43/17:22); and Women 40-44 – Guadalupe Guerrero, age 40 – 62:28 (42:04/20:24).   

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There was another record set at the Pleasanton Double that will likly never be broken.  Since 21 of the 25 overall and age-group world records in the Double fell in Pleasanton, it’s safe to say that there will probably never be another Double Road Race™ in history that will have as many world records broken! 

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It’s only commonsense that your pace per mile in the 5K leg of the Double would be faster than your pace per mile in the 10K leg, since you’re running only half the distance. And that proved to be the case in the Pleasanton Double, but only among the faster, fitter and more experienced runners. It wasn’t the case, significantly, with the majority of participants.

The aforementioned Bill Dunn, who won the 65-69 age group at Pleasanton, setting a new world age-group record of 63:42 (42:36 10K, 21:05 5K), wrote us the following note: “Having participated in the Double myself, I was interested in how others might have run the race. It wasn’t possible to go around and ask each one of them, so I went to the next best thing – the race results. A lot can be learned by simple statistics, i.e., the race splits for the 10K and 5K. I found, and this really wasn’t a surprise, that the more experienced runners in all age groups generally ran a faster pace in the 5K than they did in the 10K. One would think that would be the norm, but, alas, it was not.  More participants ran the 5K at a slower pace than the 10K, even though the 5K is half the distance. There could be only one explanation for that as far as I can see, and that is that they ran the 10K too fast or faster than they should have for their level of conditioning.

My two cents. I concur with Bill's assessment : re 5K pace slower than 10K pace for relatively not in top shape runners. Given the weather, I probably went too hard on the 10K to compensate for bad weather, thus when the gun went off for the 5K, I couldn't get going, my 5K was almost two minutes slower than my PR. That said, I was still pleased to medal in my age group. For the next Double, I will attempt to keep legs moving and keep warm during the intermission.
Eldon Regua 2/19/13 2:00 pm

If you are running the Double, you need to read this article...Tyler McCandless and Christine Kennedy are racing in Overland Park on Sunday along with hundreds of others!
Bob Anderson 6/25/13 10:02 pm

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Conversely, the faster and/or more experienced runners tended to run the 5K at a faster  pace than the 10K, which one would think was the optimal approach. So we may learn a simple lesson from this, and that would be: Don’t let the excitement of the opening 10K leg put a damper on your concluding 5K leg. It’s like going out too fast in the marathon. Once you’ve done it, you can’t take it back for the latter stages of the race.”                 

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In his first serious race since finishing third overall in the Pleasanton Double on Dec. 23, Tyler McCandless of Boulder, Colo., finished an impressive fifth  – and was the first American, after four Kenyans took places first through fourth  -- in the Naples (Fla.) Half-Marathon on Sunday, Jan. 19. Tyler ran 1:06:15 after going out very hard (“Too hard,” he admitted), but he said he was intent on racing the Kenyans. He ran the first mile in 4:46, the first 5K under 15 minutes, which is 1:03 pace for the half-marathon (his personal best is 1:04:59), then closed very well at the end to overtake Anthony Famigletti, two-time American Ølympian in the steeplechase, with less than half a mile to go. Extremely pleased with his performance, Tyler reflected later, “If you go out too fast in the race and still run a good time, that shows how fit you are.”

After his return to Boulder, we asked him if he thought the Pleasanton Double had been good preparation for the Naples race. He answered enthusiastically, “The Double Road Race™ was an excellent race to help you prepare for the half-marathon distance. The Double teaches you to finish fast not only over the last ¼ mile, but the last 5K. In the Naples Half-Marathon I had one of the strongest last three miles of any competitor due to the toughness and strength the Double helped me develop. The Double is an ideal tune-up race several weeks before a peak half-marathon.”           

Hopefully you read Tyler’s recap of his race in the Pleasanton Double that we posted in our Stories From The Double series. You’ll remember that he had to run extremely hard in the concluding 5K at Pleasanton to reclaim third place after Matt Duffy had built a 20-second lead on him with a mile to go in the 5K to take over third place at that point on aggregate time. 

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Two weeks after his fifth-place finish at the Naples Half-Marathon, Tyler was back in Florida Saturday, Feb. 2 for the 15K Double Bridge Run from Pensacola to Pensacola Beach. This time he won the race, running 46:13 to finish more than two minutes ahead of a couple of African runners who were second and third. His personal best in the 15K is 45:17, and he ran an aggregate time of 47:13 for the 10- and 5K at the Pleasanton Double.  Tyler, it’s important to note, has signed with the Double Road Race Federation to serve as race director of the Double Road Race™ in Denver scheduled for July 21. This elite runner and Ph.D. candidate in meteorology is clearly a young man on the move.

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While Tyler McCandless has fared very well in the races he’s run since Pleasanton, Fernando Cabada, who convincingly won the Pleasanton Double, winning both legs and, of course, setting the new world record of 46:34, has not been as fortunate. Fernando was using the Pleasanton Double as a tune-up for the Houston Marathon two weeks later, where he hoped to break 2:10. After winning in Pleasanton, however, he came down with the flu, decided to run in Houston anyway, but on a cold and rainy day which hampered the competitors so much no one broke 2:10, Fernando ran with the leaders for 10 miles, then things started to fall apart for him, and he dropped out at 16 miles. Probably just as well under the circumstances (he was ill, race conditions were terrible), but Fernando’s apparently recovered now and back in hard training (his next major competition is the Boston Marathon). And nothing but big things are expected from this tall, slender native of Fresno, Calif., who Tyler McCandless calls “the most naturally talented distance runner in America.” []

Editor’s Note: If you have an item or idea that you think should be included in this column, please contact us at david@doubleroadrace.com