LITTLE ROCK — Striding alone along Capitol Avenue, Leah Thorvilson didn’t need a reassuring peek over her shoulder as she coasted to victory in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K on Saturday.
Her closest challenger was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Thorvilson’s Race for the Cure nemesis, three-time defending champion Bonita Paul, didn’t lace up her running shoes.
Thorvilson finished first in 17 minutes, 55.79 seconds.
“I got off easy because she wasn’t here today,” said Thorvilson, who paced a pack of 550 competitive runners and more than 40,000 joggers and walkers in downtown Little Rock.
Thorvilson, a former UALR runner, had lost to Paul, a former rival from Western Kentucky, three years running.
“I came out last year thinking it would just be a fun race and play around a little bit,” said Thorvilson, who finished two minutes behind Paul last year. “She got in my head at the start line and beat me pretty bad,”
Saturday, Thorvilson was 100 yards clear of the chase pack going over the Broadway Bridge, and after that, it was only a matter of how much she would win by.
That turned out to be roughly 80 seconds ahead of Searcy’s Tia Stone, who finished second in 19:15.61, while Sherwood’s Vivien Miller was third in 19:38.12.
But even on a day when mingling with the running community is more important than racing, old instincts take hold, Thorvilson said.
“I have a rule about never looking behind me,” Thorvilson said. “You never know who’s going to show up. If someone sees you easing back, they start kicking and to get back in the right gear is hard.”
In reality, the only useful purpose served by Saturday’s 3.1 miles might have been to acclimate Thorvilson, 31, to the throng of up to 44,200 bodies she’ll wade through Nov. 4 at the start of the New York City Marathon.
It’s her debut in the race as a member of the professional women’s field, a group of about 50 runners who form the nucleus of the world’s elite marathoners.
And it’s Thorvilson first crack at competing in her staple event since May, when heat forced the operators of the Green Bay Marathon to shut down the race roughly 2 1/2 hours after it started. Of the roughly 7,4000 runners who entered, only 3,600 people were officially timed.
Thorvilson’s time of 2 hours, 45 minutes was the best among the women’s field, but the results weren’t official.
After that, Thorvilson battled through her worst spate of injuries in four years, starting with hamstring tendinitis, then bursitis on the ball of her foot, back to her hamstring and then nagging hip pain.
“Going up hills really set off my hamstring,” Thorvilson said. “Sometimes, it was the ball of my foot, and I didn’t know if it was a stress fracture. I could go volume, but when I started speed work it began flaring up.”
In January, Thorvilson finished 55th in the U.S Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston, in 2:42:07, putting her 16:31 behind winner Shalane Flanagan.
Two months later, Thorvilson won her third consecutive Little Rock Marathon in a personal-best 2:37:26.
Elite women’s distance runners typically cover courses in around 2:20 at the upper end of the spectrum, which translates to running roughly 30 seconds per mile faster than Thorvilson.
Thorvilson is pragmatic heading to New York, where the course isn’t known to produce fast times - unlike a pancake flat route in Chicago - and with the unknown of how her altered training regimen will turn out.
Instead of incorporating speed work, Thorvilson upped her mileage total to 140 miles a week to build pure strength.
“I don’t know that I ever need to do that again,” she said.
Thorvilson said her injury problems have subsided.
“It’d be nice to have another four or five weeks, but I feel as ready as I can be,” she said.
Saturday’s focus might have been on getting ready for New York, but Thorvilson said she enjoyed leading the pack without an opponent in serious pursuit.
“It was nice to have the pressure off, and try to go out and soak in the atmosphere,” Thorvilson said. “I just wanted redemption, just wanted to win.”
Top finishers PL.,
NAME, CITY TIME
1, Leah Thorvilson, Little Rock ........17:55.79
2, Tia Stone, Searcy .........................19:15.61
3, Vivien Miller, Sherwood ...............19:38.12
4, Molly Alexander, Little Rock ........21:00.28
5, Emily Harbour, Jonesboro ...........21:01.55
6, Natalie Ragsdale, Pangburn .........21:37.65
7, Sarah Olney, Little Rock ...............21:42.83
8, Alice Stewart, Little Rock .............21:55.53
9, Amy Johnson, Stuttgart ...............22:00.25
10, Rocio Basilio, Little Rock ............22:06.47
11, Candy Sample, Benton ..............22:12.06
12, Monica Zaremba, Benton ...........22:13.05
13, Stephanie Tharp, Little Rock ....22:21.19
14, S. Westomoreland, Jacksonville, 22:21.48
15, DeShawnna Doke, Trumann ......22:23.36
16, Sharon Rohde, Jacksonville ......22:31.50
17, Mary Wells, Little Rock ..............22:35.09
18, Merridy Stephson,Reno, Nev. ....22:43.95
19, Morgan Musser, Jacksonville ....22:49.61
20, Candace Fletcher, Little Rock .....22:58.89
21, Anne Perry, Glenwood ...............23:00.40
22, Marshia Sears, Searcy ...............23:02.66
23, Samantha Gonzales, Des Arc ....23:04.09
24, Stacy Roberts, Little Rock .........23:08.13
25, Leann Savage, Arkadelphia ........23:15.89
26, Emma Buckner, White Hall ........23:18.21
27, Melanie Piazza, Little Rock ........23:20.96
28, Gracie Kreth, Little Rock ............23:22.29
29, Catherine Oakley, Little Rock .....23:27.19
30, Lidya Canady, Conway ...............23:27.88
SOURCE Mac’s Race Timing
Sports, Pages 34 on 10/21/2012