The women’s elite race took off at 9 A.M. And what a field! The goal of the pace setter is to take the women through 71 minutes for the half marathon. Zhou Chunxiu of China, bronze medalist, Beijing, Mara Yamaguchi, Britian, six place, Beijing and Irina Mikitenko, 2008 London champion.
The pace for the first five miles was very good, and on a sub two hour, twenty minute pace: 5:27 for mile 1, 5:22 for mile two, and 5:07 for the third mile, with the 5k hit in 16:34. At that time, Constantina Dita, the Olympic champion, was nine seconds down already.
The elite Women, which numbered just over one dozen, has Catherine Nderiba, the Beijing silver medalist, at the back of that pack. The women hit four miles in 5:11 and five miles in 5.10, which put the women at five miles in 26.39. A pack of ten women
are running together, with Dita now twenty-one seconds back!
Author
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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