SANTEE \u00a0\u2014 As Perseus Karlstrom finished first in this year\u2019s USATF Marathon National Race Walk championships, the three-time Swedish Olympian could barely speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019m going to faint,\u201d said Karlstrom, seeking the help of two people nearby to stay steady.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t faint, Karlstrom did vomit after taking a seat. He had just prevailed in the men\u2019s race by six minutes in 3 hours, 4 minutes, 50 seconds on the 1-K course adjacent to the Trolley Square shopping center on Sunday.<\/p>\n
This was the introduction to start the year of the marathon along with the half marathon as the new international championship distances for race walking. Gone were the shorter 35K and 20K in a move to provide direct time comparisons between walkers and runners.<\/p>\n
The added distance only contributed to a convergence of challenging circumstances for Karlstrom since the temperature went from 41 degrees at the start to the mid-60\u2019s under direct sunlight \u00a0and there was a brisk early pace by El Cajon\u2019s Nick Christie, a longtime stalwart at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very tough\u201d said Karlstrom, who dominated in setting an event record in the 35K last year (2:27:19). \u201cInitially, I was hoping for 3:05. I just did it, but I wasn\u2019t planning for racing it the way I did. Still, it was pretty solid for a first-time event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karlstrom, 35, alternated in the lead until Christie became ill on the course about three-fourths through the race.<\/p>\n
Soon Karlstrom \u00a0increased his advantage to more than a lap while Christie persevered to take second (3:11:12) and claim the top U.S prize.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went a little after Percy, and both us of us paid the price,\u201d said Christie, 34, whose experience includes the 50K races from bygone days. \u201cMy (time) splits were pretty even, surprisingly. So, all in all, it was good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christie, a two-time champion at the event, was greeted past the finish line by his fiancee, Miranda Melville, a two-time women\u2019s winner herself.<\/p>\n
Melville participated in the race for training purposes and withdrew without finishing. Maria Michta-Coffey, a two-time American Olympian, won the women\u2019s marathon by eight minutes (3:50:38) for her 50th national championship.<\/p>\n
Both a competitor and coach, Michta-Coffey also cerebrated that her protege, Lauren Harris, of Sachem, N.Y., set an American record in the 10K by breaking Michta-Coffey\u2019s old mark (44:09).<\/p>\n
Harris, 26, placed second behind Mexico\u2019s Alejandra Ortega Solis (42:59).<\/p>\n
\u201cI had 49 national titles for over a year now, and 50 just sounds so much better than 49,\u201d said Michta-Coffey, 39, of Lake Grove, N.Y.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Lauren was going for the 10, I said to myself for my pace, \u2018This is it. You\u2019ve got to do it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Michta-Coffey kept largely in stride with former El Cajon resident Katie Burnett for much of the race and then took change when Burnett slowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI held on, held on, then I felt her slow,\u201d Michta-Coffey said. \u201cI thought, \u2018Maybe I\u2019ll blow up, or maybe I won\u2019t, but let\u2019s go.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Burnett, 37, of Lake Olympia, Wash., placed second (3:59:07), while third (4:07:15) went to Lydia McGranahan, 49, of Sheridan, N.Y.<\/p>\n
The top three U.S. Finishers earned $8,000, $6,000 and $4,000, respectively.<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s Valeria Ortuno Martinez, 27. who set an event record in thee women\u2019s 35K last year (2:56:33), switched to the shorter half marathon \u00a0and prevailed by a minute (1:42:01) for the eighth best time overall.<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s winner (1:27:28) was Noel Charma, 28, of Mexico. Spring Valley\u2019s Natos Corvera, 32, placed fourth (41:47) in the men\u2019s 10K and sixth overall, one spot behind Harris.<\/p>\n
The day\u2019s entries included a record 11 Olympians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTEE \u00a0\u2014 As Perseus Karlstrom finished first in this year\u2019s USATF Marathon National Race Walk championships, the three-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,74,76,75,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-129656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-san-diego","10":"tag-san-diego-headlines","11":"tag-san-diego-news","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}