5 Takeaways from the Houston Marathon/Half Marathon

The Houston Marathon and Half Marathon went off on Sunday. Both races sported excellent fields as you can read in my preview. Being not cold and not snowy in Houston, Canadian athletes were there in force.

Results:

Men’s Marathon

You can check out the full results here.

Malindi Elmore is back.

The 2004 Olympian in the 1500 made her debut at marathon distance this past weekend in Houston. Elmore had a great race, sporting fairly even splits throughout the race.

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
5K	07:19:01AM	00:17:55	17:55	05:46	10.41
10K	07:36:51AM	00:35:45	17:50	05:45	10.46
15K	07:54:42AM	00:53:36	17:51	05:45	10.45
HALF	08:17:02AM	01:15:56	22:20	05:54	10.18
25K	08:31:40AM	01:30:34	14:39	06:03	9.94
30K	08:49:26AM	01:48:20	17:46	05:43	10.50
35K	09:07:54AM	02:06:48	18:29	05:57	10.09
40K	09:25:45AM	02:24:39	17:51	05:45	10.45
Finish Mat	09:33:16AM	02:32:10	07:32	05:31	10.89

What this means for Elmore’s future is uncertain. As you might know, she is a triathlete, and the multi-sport events may draw her back. At the same time, Elmore’s strength in the multi-distance events may just provide her the strength to do an even faster marathon. It will be interesting to see if Elmore runs another elite marathon this year, and I am sure the folks at STWM are recruiting her right now.

More competition for those three Olympic spots.

In addition to Elmore, Sasha Gollish also made her marathon debut at Houston. This wasn’t Gollish’s first time toeing the line (as she DNF’d in Berlin with an injury), but it was her first marathon finish. Gollish was only slightly behind Elmore, who passed her in the late stages of the race, but from her social media reaction was happy with her race.

Gollish’s splits were like so:

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
5K	07:18:59AM	00:17:58	17:58	05:47	10.38
10K	07:36:47AM	00:35:46	17:49	05:44	10.47
15K	07:54:41AM	00:53:39	17:54	05:46	10.42
HALF	08:16:43AM	01:15:42	22:03	05:50	10.31
25K	08:31:04AM	01:30:03	14:21	05:55	10.15
30K	08:48:40AM	01:47:38	17:36	05:40	10.60
35K	09:07:24AM	02:06:23	18:45	06:02	9.95
40K	09:25:57AM	02:24:56	18:33	05:59	10.05
Finish Mat	09:33:56AM	02:32:54	07:59	05:51	10.27

Gollish and Elmore are intriguing additions to what was already going to be an interesting race for the spots on the Canadian Olympic Team for the marathon distance. You should consider adding their names to this list:Marchant, Duchene, Middleton, Cliff, Sexton, Tessier, Pidhoresky. Should be a great 2019.

Wodak/Esselink ready for Aarhus 2019

They both set personal bests in the half marathon. They both finished top 3 at ACXC. And they are both headed to Denmark for the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark. Natasha Wodak and Evan Esselink both raced astonishing races on the weekend.

Wodak (who finished 10th) went within 30 seconds of Cliff’s Canadian record and seems to be ecstatic with her PB. Wodak splits are just below:

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
5K	07:17:49AM	00:16:47	16:47	05:25	11.11
10K	07:34:24AM	00:33:22	16:36	05:21	11.24
15K	07:51:05AM	00:50:04	16:42	05:23	11.17
20K	08:08:02AM	01:07:01	16:57	05:28	11.00
Finish Mat	08:11:35AM	01:10:33	03:33	05:12	11.54

If this was indeed a building race for Wodak, expect a strong performance in Denmark, especially since World’s on the track will not happen until the fall.

Evan Esselink smashed his PB, taking around four minutes of his PB. According to the Canadian Running Magazine, Esselink was ready for this breakout and his workouts were showing as such. You can check out his training here. Splits below:

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
5K	07:15:54AM	00:14:49	14:49	04:47	12.59
10K	07:30:31AM	00:29:26	14:37	04:43	12.76
15K	07:45:12AM	00:44:08	14:42	04:44	12.69
20K	08:00:07AM	00:59:03	14:55	04:48	12.50
Finish Mat	08:03:18AM	01:02:13	03:11	04:40	12.89

This also spells good times for Esselink at World XC. Will be interesting to see the Canadian team score.

Woodfine flying under the radar.

The performance which has been least discussed (and I even missed him in my race preview) is Tristain Woodfine. Woodfine smashed his PB of 2:18:55 from Ottawa, running 2:15:16, putting him square in the competition to run at the World Championships for Canada in the Marathon. Of course, many of our marathoners (Woodfine included) will probably pass on this Championships as Doha is going be a very warm championship.

Woodfine flies under the radar all the time unfortunately. Not only has the media attention missed on his Houston performance, but he also finished a stellar 2nd at the Boxing Day 10 Miler to little fanfare. In retrospect, that was a great indicator of his fitness for this race.

It is important to note that this would have been the second fastest time by a Canadian male in 2018.

His splits for the race were:

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
5K	07:17:00AM	00:15:59	15:59	05:09	11.67
10K	07:32:55AM	00:31:54	15:55	05:08	11.72
15K	07:48:48AM	00:47:47	15:54	05:07	11.73
HALF	08:08:13AM	01:07:12	19:25	05:08	11.71
25K	08:20:53AM	01:19:51	12:40	05:14	11.49
30K	08:36:19AM	01:35:18	15:27	04:59	12.08
35K	08:52:31AM	01:51:30	16:12	05:13	11.51
40K	09:09:01AM	02:08:00	16:31	05:19	11.29
Finish Mat	09:16:20AM	02:15:19	07:19	05:22	11.21

Tough times for Hofbauer

Trevor Hofbauer struggled. It is fair to say this wasn’t his best race. Although Hofbauer won some 10ks in 2018, his last massive achievement was in 2017 where he was the Canadian Marathon Champion.

It isn’t poor training which has led Hofbauer here, but also bad luck. The Calgary Winter isn’t conducive to running super fast times, but his actual goal race was cancelled due to the California forest fires.

You can check out the Hof’s splits below:

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
5K	07:16:40AM	00:15:34	15:34	05:01	11.98
10K	07:32:57AM	00:31:51	16:18	05:15	11.45
15K	07:49:53AM	00:48:47	16:56	05:27	11.01
20K	08:07:23AM	01:06:17	17:31	05:38	10.65
Finish Mat	08:11:12AM	01:10:06	03:49	05:36	10.72

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