By JULIE JAG
Sentinel Staff Writer
SANTA CRUZ - Chilly weather made for fast feet Sunday at the
Santa Cruz Half Marathon and 10k.
Temperatures in the low 60s had spectators bundling up and had
the 2,200 racers donning long sleeves and gloves, but it proved
perfect for running.
"It's one of those things where you're on the event staff and
you're like, 'Oh, it's cold,' and they're like 'It's perfect
weather,'" said race organizer Michelle Bradley.
For proof, look no further than John Mentzer of Monterey.
Mentzer finished the half marathon in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 54
seconds to crush the 4-year-old race's previous record of 1:15:22,
set last year by Troy Herrera of Longmont, Colo.
The women's half marathon record was also threatened, though
not broken, as Dina Rosenthal of San Jose finished the 13.1-mile
race in 1:19:45. Rosenthal, a mom who took her 22-month-old son to
the podium with her, finished just 18 seconds off the mark in her
first race breaking 1:20:00.
Rosenthal placed third overall in the half marathon and ran
most of the race — which stretches from the Santa Cruz Beach
Boardwalk to the Bluffs Trail at Wilder Ranch State Park and back
— alone. She said she would have preferred to have a few more
runners in the vicinity — though not necessarily for their body
heat.
"It would have been nice to have a pack," said Rosenthal. "A
pack kind of pushes you along."
Barb Acosta of Santa Cruz, the top local finisher, fought the
chill with a pair of flaming red gloves. She'd ditched her
long-sleeve shirt three miles into the race, but she'd held onto
the gloves.
"I didn't want to lose my favorite pair of gloves. What if some
dog got a hold of them?" said Acosta, who had to tell her two
children to stay away from the red pair after they made off with
several other pairs of gloves. "Besides, by keeping your head,
hands and feet covered, all the blood goes back to the heart."
As flashy as the red gloves were, they gave Acosta only enough
of a boost to finish second among women and in the top 25 overall
in 1:29:15. Acosta had hoped to run faster than 1:26:00, roughly
the time she recorded when she ran the same race two years ago
when, she says, she was in much worse shape. She has been running
as many as 70 miles a week, and said she felt great after a long
run just last week. But after a 10-day walking-tour vacation
through New York and Washington, D.C., that ended Saturday, her
legs had other ideas.
"You have those good days and you have the others," she said.
"This was one of the others."
Jean Pommier of Cupertino was sporting a pair of warm wool
gloves as well when he crossed the finish line in 1:16:47 for
second in the half marathon. He also probably had weary legs after
pressing for a top-10 spot in his age group 40-44 in the Boston
Marathon less than a week earlier. Nonetheless, his time was
blazing as he finished just under five minutes ahead of Rob
Zimmerman of Hollister, the men's third-place finisher.
Pommier, who will race in the French National Marathon
Championships next week, said the racer who was really hot,
though, was Mentzer.
"The first guy is amazing," he said.
Indeed, Mentzer ran the race so quickly that he crossed the
finish line for his 13.1-mile race at the same time as a group of
runners who planned to run the half marathon but instead turned
around midway and ran the 6.2-mile 10-kilometer race instead.
Mentzer ran for the Naval Academy in college and won last year's
Firecracker 10k.
Rigoberto Ramirez of San Jose won Sunday's 10k in 34:08,
followed by Joshua Goldstein of Menlo Park 36:28. Linda Gallo of
Mountain View was the top woman in 38:52. Santa Cruz's Brianna
McNulty finished close behind her in 45:05 for third. The top
local 10k finisher was Peter Huemer of Santa Cruz, who ran the
American River 50-miler two weeks ago and is preparing for the
Western States 100. Huemer finished fifth in 39:11.
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