Saturday, October 15, 2011

Berdan - 2:21:19 at Baltimore Marathon

After leading the race until just before the halfway point, Dave Berdan finished 10th in 2:21:19, lowering his personal best by 2:21 (Steamtown 2007, 2:23:40).  Sustained winds of 15-20mph and 12 miles in the lead took their toll on Dave, who was looking to run under 2:19 and earn his spot on the line for January's US Olympic Marathon Trials.  While it was off his goal, Dave was still extremely pleased with the big PR, saying that he never "hit the wall" but muscularly was shot.  He also remarked that he "should have gone to Chicago," adding that, while speculative, he felt the effort would have been a 2:18 at Chicago or Philly.

I tend to agree, as the wind was brutal out there today.  It picked up steadily throughout the morning, and was straight into the runners' faces as they came back to the finish. 

Either way, it's a great result for Dave, for whom this is only his 4th marathon.  He also managed to outkick a runner for 10th - it was incredible.  He was so far back heading into Camden Yards and wound up putting 30 seconds into him by the end. 

Other great results, I'll get more up here later when they're all finalized.

3 comments:

Dan said...

Wow, only his 4th? Impressive! I think this goes to show you that a bit of luck goes a long way. On a calm day, maybe a 2:19 was possible.

KLIM said...

Great work Berdan.

Christy said...

Great job Dave!