One of the top distance runners in the state — Dan Greeno — will be running in Saturday's 27th Rochester Half Marathon.
Not that he's going to run alone; more than 600 runners are expected, and that also includes a 5K. That's approximately the number which ran last year.
"I've been looking at the weather forecast all week,'' said second-year race director Jen Woodford, "and it probably couldn't be better, especially when you consider this is the last weekend of August.
"We get so many registrations at the last minute and you can't blame them. Runners want to make sure they're going to be running in decent weather.''
Which is exactly what Greeno did, he registered earlier this week. He's a resident of Roseville and based on points accumulated throughout the year, was Minnesota Runner of the Year in 2010.
ADVERTISEMENT
And he currently leads the points total again.
Let's see, he won the Human Race 8K last March in St. Paul and just recently the Minnesota Distance Running Association 15K for the second straight year, in a personal best of 46 minutes, 55 seconds.
His personal best half-marathon time is 1:07.37, which, if did that on Saturday would be a race record. The Bethel University grad also has top five finishes in the Get in Gear 10K and the Fargo Half Marathon.
The field will be running this course probably for the final time. There are changes ahead.
"We're going to have to do something,'' said Woodford, "because the congestation on Broadway is too much. Counting spectators, there are over 1,000 people and on a Saturday morning that doesn't work.
"We don't know what we're going to do, but once we change the start we have to recertify the course so we might as well make some other changes as well, especially when you're dealing with possible construction along the way.''
This course starts in front of the Rochester City Centre Hotel downtown, heads up Pill Hill and around to Soldiers Field, back to Quarry Hill, around Silver Lake and finishing in the park behind the Mayo Civic Center Arena.
Farmington native Ben Kampf won last year in 1:09.45 while Christy Marvin of Rochester defended her women's championship, finishing in 1:25.11.
ADVERTISEMENT
University of Minnesota Rochester chancellor Stephen Lehmkuhle is the official starter. His son, Jason, is one of the top marathoners in the country. The chancellor will be joined at the starting line by the new school mascot, a raptor.
