Monday, May 16, 2011

Girma marathon: 2:21:36!

What an odd chain of events:

On Friday night at IC4As, Will Griffin breaks Girma Segni’s last remaining outdoor track record in the 5,000-meter run (Girm still has the indoor 5km mark of 14:18.42, which will be a tough mark to break!).

Apparently, Girma wants to have an outdoor record in SOMETHING, so he did something about it … pronto.

Girma placed second at the Pocono Marathon in Stroudsburg, Pa., on Sunday, in 2:21:36 – that is now a Marist Alumni Racing Team marathon record!

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I will. On Sunday afternoon, Girma texted me this: “2:21 marathon in Stroudsburg, PA.” My reply to him was something in the order of “Nice! Who ran THAT?

Translation: Based on recent conversations with Girm, I had NO IDEA he was ready to run that fast. When he texted me, I simply figured he was talking about one of his West Side training buddies …

So anyway, I had to call Girma and get the details. Apparently, he was as surprised as anyone. He decided to run this race at the last minute and use it as his “long run.” His long training run entering the race was 2 hours (he estimated it at 18 miles). He cruised through the half marathon in 1:09. According to this race report, he even took the lead late in the race!

The race winner ran 2:20:11. Girm was second in 2:21:36. Third place was 2:21:39. Sounds like a pretty good race!

Congrats to Girma on his latest school record – this one his first as a post-collegian!

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