The forecasters were off a bit, so this year’s Get in Gear events actually had very nice weather: low 40s, partly cloudy, not much wind and no rain or snow. The announcer said there were 4,000 people for the 10K run, 1,500 for the 5K and a full field of 1,000 for the inaugural half marathon. Women made up 57% of all entrants.
My race was very enjoyable, as I broke my personal best in the 10K by almost six minutes (official time of 49:02 – 7:54 pace). I started near the front of the pack, which helped push me to a quick 7:24 first mile. My watch says the other splits were: 7:47, 8:11, 8:14, 8:06 and 7:53. I sprinted the last two-tenths so I could get under 50 minutes and felt great afterwards. I came in 636th out of 3,419 finishers (57/221 in my division and 500/1647 among men).
** Half Marathon Race Stats **
- Number of Finishers: 807
- Number of Females: 378
- Number of Males: 427
- Average Time: 2:00:45
Half Marathon – Men
- Thomas Sullivan, 32, Minneapolis – 1:18:18
- Gerad Mead, 29, St. Paul – 1:19:33
- Daniel De Grace, 40, Eden Prairie – 1:21:07
Half Marathon – Women
- Elli Johnson, 28, Maplewood – 1:30:58
- Kortney Haag, 30, New Hope – 1:32:16
- Michelle Lebow, 40, Shoreview - 1:34:18
** 10K Race Stats **
- Number of Finishers: 3,419
- Number of Females: 1,766
- Number of Males: 1,647
- Average Time: 58:28
10K – Men
- Sammy Malakwen, 30, Two Harbors – 29:17
- Japheth Ngojoy, 21, El Paso, TX – 29:51
- Antonio Vega, 25, St. Paul – 30:00
10K – Women
- Alemtsehay Misganaw, 28, New York, NY – 34:47
- Amy Lyons, 23, Mounds View – 35:39
- Jenna Boren, 32, St. Paul – 35:59
** 5K Race Stats **
- Number of Finishers: 1,603
- Number of Females: 1,051
- Number of Males: 535
- Average Time: 35:26
5K – Men
- Mike Scheller, 32, Carver – 17:35
- Bill Kern, 50, Maple Grove – 18:07
- Dave Ebel, 27, Minneapolis – 18:25
5K – Women
- Nikki Borner, 23, Hastings – 18:39
- Johanna Winters, 25, Minneapolis – 19:11
- Elizabeth Johnson, 32, Woodbury – 19:37
Race results and stats from onlineraceresults.com.
