Maynes is the Man at Hartford Marathon

Hearty congrats and major NICELY DONE to Marist Running Alum Matt Maynes for his stellar marathon PR at the Hartford Marathon on Saturday in his home state of Connecticut. Maynes is from Tolland, home of one of the best small-school running programs in the Nutmeg State. Way back in the dark ages (1991) when I started coaching, one of our "original" team members (actually, a holdover from the last Rich Stevens era) was Matt Murphy, another proud Tolland alum.

Anyway ... Maynes finished 53rd overall in 2:58:32. His first half marathon split was 1:29:29, meaning he ran a slight negative split with a second half of 1:29:03 (if I'm doing the math correctly?). Listen: This is a good marathon time for anyone. But understand that Maynes was strictly a middle distance runner during his time at Marist. He ran countless 800-meter races, always hovering around that coveted 2:00 barrier. Well, speaking of barriers, Maynes soundly trounced the 3-hour barrier in the marathon, and he did it with a smartly paced effort. We are extremely proud of him.