Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half - Racing and Reporting

Moses Kigen Kipkosgei winning Sunday's Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon.

I ran the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon yesterday and also reported on the race for the Washington Running Report.

I ran a very bad race at Sept. 18's Rock N Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon, where I ran 1:12:10, two minutes off what I ran there in 2009. I was concerned with the slower time, however, less than the fact that I had failed to execute a sound racing strategy. Yesterday I ran even slower - a minute slower, in fact - but I know I ran a much better race than I did in Philadelphia. More on that later, as I am developing a post specific to these two races that I hope will have some general value to fellow students of the sport. (I realize I have not written about my own running in quite some time. This has been partially due to my hectic schedule, partially due to a lack of interest, and partially because I have been wanting, for some time, to ball up everything I have been jotting down into an essay of sorts; I just can't figure out what I am trying to say.)

Yesterday was a fine opportunity to put on the journalist hat. Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon Race Director Steve Nearman put together a rather incredible field. Among the elites, I was able to speak with race winner Moses Kigen Kipkosgei, who finished third in last year's New York City Marathon, and two members of Team USA Arizona, a Flagstaff-based group coached by Greg McMillan.

Here's some bonus material from Kipkosgei. At New York last year, Kipkosgei in some respects executed a strategy that is the opposite of the more common Kenyan tactic of going for broke. Rather than roll with a pace he felt was too fast, the now-28-year-old decided, around 10K, to break from the lead group and run his own race. When rookie Gebre Gebremariam, who would win, and Emmanuel Mutai broke apart the lead pack, it appears (though I honestly do not recall this from watching the race) that Kipkosgei, who sixth months earlier finished 8th in Boston, was able to pick up the pieces. Based on Kipkosgei's comments to me after yesterday's race - his tuneup for a return to New York - he seems to feel it is important that he not be too influenced by what any of his competitors are doing. That's not necessarily a winning strategy for New York; but since most of the pros up front are going for broke, it's definitely a sound one as far as finding a spot in the money. As for his New York race plan, Kipkosgei said, "I cannot tell you that. It depends on how the race develops.” So, we'll see.

Kiposgei, meantime, bases his training in Eldoret. A week before his race yesterday, where he covered 13.1 tough miles at 4:46 pace, Kipkosgei told me he ran 15K in Kenya in 44:13, which is 4:44 pace.

The Team USA Arizona athletes I interviewed were Danny Mercado, a University of Oregon alum who sports a sweet stache, and Jordan Horn, who ran for California State University, Fullerton, and has been training with McMillan for four years. Both these guys grabbed U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers yesterday; they both were also pretty pumped about their results.

Horn, for one, has been focusing on the mile the past two years (he said he cracked four minutes). Mercado, in turn, had never run a half marathon.

Mercado just graduated from University of Oregon, and is new to McMillan's program.

On his training, which currently amounts to 90 MPW: "I run the least, but it still feels bulky. At least, it feels bulky to me."

Horn is putting in about 110 MPW, but this figure also falls on the low end in comparison to his teammates, he said.

Mercado on decisions he faced post-Oregon: "I definitely learned from mistakes in previous seasons, as far as training goes. ... I didn’t qualify for the 10K final at NCAAs, so that was a pretty disappointing end to the season. So I was pretty nervous coming out of college, just as far as deciding what I’m going to do. I was really, really lucky that Greg wanted to talk to me. ... I’m happy just being able to complete the half. It’s really just a testament to the training I’m doing, being in Flagstaff, being at altitude, having a really good support system."