Compiled and edited by David Prokop
Editor of BestRoadRaces.com

KEY TO THE DOUBLE?

“The fitter you are, the quicker you recover.”

-- Agreeing in unison, Julius Koskei of Kenya and Tesfaye Alemayehu of Ethiopia (who  now lives in Antioch, Calif.) after they finished 1-2 in the second annual Pleasanton Double Road Race™, Sun., Dec. 22, 2013. They were explaining how they recovered with such apparent ease during the Recovery Break between the 10K and 5K legs of the event, while many runners typically have a much tougher time recovering. At Pleasanton, Koskei ran the 10K in 29:42 and 5K in 14:35 to set a new world record of 44:24, bettering his own previous mark of 44:31. Koskei is the only runner who has run under 30 minutes in the opening 10K leg of the Double – and he’s now done it twice!

MARATHON PRODIGY

“The pace was changing a lot during the first half, which was quite tough. I think I could have run faster with an even pace.

“But I am, of course, very happy and proud of my performance. I had no idea about the world junior record, so this is a bonus for me.”

-- Tsegaye Mekonnen, 18-year-old Ethiopian, after his stunning marathon debut in winning the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, Fri., Jan. 24, in 2:04:32, a world junior best for the distance. The race began with early splits inside the world record pace of Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang when he set the world record of 2:03:23 in Berlin last September. But the pace dropped as the temperature rose in the second half of the race, which is the largest mass participation event each year in the Middle East. Ultimately Mekonnen led a 1-2-3-4 Ethiopian sweep of the race, with Markos Geneti running 2:05:13, Girmay Birhanu 2:05:49 and Tamirat Tola 2:06:17.
 
EVOLUTION OF A VICTORY

“When the three of us were together, I thought (Firehiwott) Dado and (Meselech) Melkamu would be stronger than me, but at 37 kilometers I still felt good and I realized that I had a chance. They did not look that good anymore and I increased the pace again.”

-- Ethiopia’s Mula Seboka, 29, after her upset victory in leading an Ethiopian sweep of the top nine positions – repeat, nine! – in the women’s race at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, Fri., Jan. 24. Seboka ran 2:25:01, Melkamu 2:25:23 and Dado 2:25:53. Seboka had run strongly from the start, leading the big lead group of runners, although the pace was slower than expected with a halfway split of only 1:14:03. It wasn’t until 35 kilometers that there was a significant surge, initiated by Seboka, with only Melkamu and Dado going with her. The latter was dropped at 37 kilometers and Melkamu fell back just after 38 kilometers.

POT OF GOLD

“I will partly use this (the $200,000 first prize) to support my parents and some poor people back home. I will have to speak to my husband about what we will do with the other part of it.”

-- Mula Seboka again, explaining what she planned to do with the $200,000 she collected for winning the women’s race at the Dubai Marathon, which annually offers the winners one of the biggest paydays in road racing.

BEING FERNANDO CABADA

“I think locals are always used to Africans always just dominating, and when someone like me comes along, I hope I can inspire other (American) kids. I hope I can be their superhero.”

-- American road racing star Fernando Cabada, 31, at a press conference the day before the All-America City 10K in Edinburg, Tex., Sat., Feb. 1. Fernando was born and raised in Fresno, Calif., now trains in Boulder, Colo., but has local ties to Edinburg since his grandparents grew up in that area. Despite his expressed sentiments, he couldn’t prevent a 1-2-3 Kenyan sweep of the race, although he finished a close fourth in 29:50, a hero in any event since he’s the former U.S. recordholder for 25K on the road and the former world recordholder in the Double Road Race™ (photo left).  

MIAMI HEAT

“I love running in the heat. I’ve been training in Florida for years. I love the sunshine. I love the Sunshine State. I love the palm trees, (the) great weather, and (the) great atmosphere.”

-- Shannon Miller, 29, after winning the ING Miami Half-Marathon on Sun., Feb. 2 in 1:21:07. She now lives in the Bronx, New York, but for many years she lived and trained in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

QUAINTLY PUT

“There was simply nothing in my legs, no energy. I had to talk to them – like “ADMIN!’

“I couldn’t keep (the) pace I wanted, so I actually decided to let go of my plans and let go of my pace I wanted to run and just make it a nice long run in Miami today. I’m from the Netherlands, and I flew like a trazillion miles (to get here) … you can do two things: ‘Okay, I just quit,’ or you can make it a fun day in the sun in Miami.”

-- Mariska  Kramer Postma,  39, who came all the way from the Netherlands to defend her winner’s title in the ING Miami Marathon, Sun., Feb. 2, only to come down with a stomach flu just before the race – and that’s bad news when you’re running a marathon on any continent. She still repeated as race champion, winning by more than 10 minutes in 2:49:27, but she was very unhappy with her time, which was 11 minutes slower than her target.

NIX ON THE LAST-MINUTE SUSPENSE THIS TIME

“I didn’t want to run head-to-head at the end (again). Two years ago (Teferi Bacha of Ethiopia) was drafting me all the way. Then at 500 meters (to go) he sprinted ahead of me.

“Today we were together (me and my fellow Kenyan Julius Choge) and I was right behind (his) shoulder. I sympathized with him because we were working as a team and I didn’t want to run away from him. But (I knew) he could be strong at the end, so at 21 miles I started running away so it wouldn’t be easy for him to sprint.”

-- Samuel Malakwen, 35, of Kenya, after winning the men’s division of the ING Miami Marathon, Sun., Feb. 2, in 2:19:46, excellent time under the humid conditions. Clearly he’d learned his lesson well from the Miami Marathon two years ago when Ethiopia’s Teferi Bacha got the jump on him with 500 meters to go and it took all of Malawen’s speed, strength and determination to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at the very end.

MIAMI HUMIDITY

“I was trying to push. It’s very different from where I was training (the humidity). I tried to keep up with my friend (but) he just pulled away.”

-- Julius Choge, who trains at high altitude in Albuquerque, N. Mex., explaining how the humidity got the better of him at the ING Miami Marathon, Sun., Feb. 2, where he finished second in 2:21:42 to his friend and fellow Kenyan Samuel Malakwen.

VOICE OF EXPERIENCE

“When I was just starting out in racing, I would worry about everything – the weather, the course, how I was going to do in the race. I’m not as hung up about it now. I still run each race hard, but now I sort of take it more in stride. Because of that, I do recover pretty quickly between races.”

-- Sharon Vos, 59, of Connecticut, in an interview after she was named the Ujena Fit Club Women’s Runner of the Year for the third year in a row! In 2013, Sharon ran 33 races, including a 3:08:32 in the London Marathon when she was still 58 and a 3:09:40 in the ING New York City Marathon just after she turned 59. Impressive running to say the least for an athlete her age!