Tri State
Reality reins in Hawkins
Frostburg runner finishes 4th at Marine Corps Marathon
Rice, Mertz, Smith and Nolan also compete in 33rd running
By Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
ARLINGTON, Va. – Reality bites.
And on Sunday at the 33rd running of the Marine Corps Marathon, reality proved it can reach out and grab just about anybody, including Jaron Hawkins. For the second year in a row, the 25-year-old Frostburg resident set a personal best at “The People’s Marathon” by finishing in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 17 seconds. He was fourth out of a total field of 18,261 finishers.
Frostburg runner finishes 4th at Marine Corps Marathon
Rice, Mertz, Smith and Nolan also compete in 33rd running
By Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
ARLINGTON, Va. – Reality bites.
And on Sunday at the 33rd running of the Marine Corps Marathon, reality proved it can reach out and grab just about anybody, including Jaron Hawkins. For the second year in a row, the 25-year-old Frostburg resident set a personal best at “The People’s Marathon” by finishing in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 17 seconds. He was fourth out of a total field of 18,261 finishers.
Sunday’s effort was a personal best for Hawkins at the 26.2-mile distance. His previous standard of 2:25:34, set last year, came on the same course.
Well, almost the same. Race Director Rick Nealis changed this year’s course so that a difficult stretch along Hains Point greeted runners five miles sooner in the competition. Like last year, Hawkins was in contention until the isolated stretch of road, sparkled with few fans to keep up the incentive to push the human body.
“It’d be nice to be on the podium,” Hawkins said moments after the crossing the line one spot in the standings behind last year’s third-place finish. “I was going for the win. Only one guy wins. There’s a pretty good chance I’m not gonna do it.”
Well, almost the same. Race Director Rick Nealis changed this year’s course so that a difficult stretch along Hains Point greeted runners five miles sooner in the competition. Like last year, Hawkins was in contention until the isolated stretch of road, sparkled with few fans to keep up the incentive to push the human body.
“It’d be nice to be on the podium,” Hawkins said moments after the crossing the line one spot in the standings behind last year’s third-place finish. “I was going for the win. Only one guy wins. There’s a pretty good chance I’m not gonna do it.”
“Last year I hit 1:12:10 at the half,” said Hawkins, who gained some 50 pounds in six months of non-running after graduating high school. “This year, I was a minute faster.”
Which was not a good thing for a runner who prefers to post negative splits – that is, running the second half of a race faster than the first half. But just around 12 miles, at the beginning of Hains Point, eventual winner Andrew Dumm took the lead, Fred Josyln tried to hang and Hawkins was left all by himself.
“It was the same as last year,” said Hawkins, who, along with Mertz and Rice, compete for the Hagerstown-based Cumberland Valley Athletic Club. “Everyone pulled away.”
Rice, meanwhile, paid a personal sacrifice for his best-ever effort at the marathon.
“I know that both of my feet and my toes are numb,” Rice said minutes after receiving his finisher’s medal. “I think my foot has a massive blister.”
Rice, who finished 40th, suffered each uncomfortable step over the standard marathon distance due to the soles in his 8-ounce racing flats moving around too much. Smith, meanwhile, “felt like crap at mile 9” but recovered his rhythm shortly afterward.
“After that, I was happy,” Smith said.
Despite the setback – and a personal best is hardly a genuine setback – Hawkins wasn’t 20 meters away from the finish line when he first mentioned what’s next on his training schedule.
“I’ll look to qualify for the (Olympic) Trials after the first” of the year, he said. “I’ll take two shots a year.”
Next up, then is the 113th running of the Boston Marathon in April 2009. But it won’t be easy as the governing body of U.S. Track and Field, USATF, lowered the qualifying standard to 2:19 from 2:22.
Andrew Drum, 23, of Arlington, Va., ran a superb second half of the race to finish in 2:22:44. Fred Josyln, 24, of Rochester, Mich., was second in 2:23:52 while Corey Duquette, 26, of Pensacola, Fla., rounded out the medal winners by finishing in 2:24:40. Of note was fifth-place finisher Brian Dumm, 25, of Fairfax, Va., in 2:26 – 3:16 behind his brother’s winning time. Cate Fenster, 37, of Ohio, won the women’s race in 2:48:55.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.
Frostburg's Jaron Hawkins (330) hangs with leader Fred Josyln (5), eventual winner Andrew Dumm (left, 1564), Mexico's Jose Mirando (6th, 76) and one other runner on Sunday in the first seven miles of the 33rd Marine Corps Marathon.
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“It’d be nice to be on the podium,” Hawkins said moments after the crossing the line one spot in the standings behind last year’s third-place finish. “I was going for the win. Only one guy wins. There’s a pretty good chance I’m not gonna do it.”
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Fellow Frostsburg resident Jeremy Rice finished in a personal best 2:40:38 and Allegany High School graduate Dave Mertz, 22, of Cumberland, finished in 2:50:41 in 79th place. Rob Smith, 43, of Cumberland, set a standard for local masters runners by finishing in 3:01:16 despite recent struggles with an achilles injury. George Nolan, 52, of Cresaptown, finished with a chip time of 4:51:07.
Actually, for the first 13.1 miles, the chances looked pretty good for Hawkins to become only the second Allegany County runner to win the “Marathon of Monuments,” which takes runners past such sights as the Lincoln, Jefferson and Iwo Jima memorials. Cumberland’s Jeff Smith won the event in 1982 in 2:21:29. But it wasn’t meant to be. Hawkins knew at about the halfway point things weren’t in his favor.t
Actually, for the first 13.1 miles, the chances looked pretty good for Hawkins to become only the second Allegany County runner to win the “Marathon of Monuments,” which takes runners past such sights as the Lincoln, Jefferson and Iwo Jima memorials. Cumberland’s Jeff Smith won the event in 1982 in 2:21:29. But it wasn’t meant to be. Hawkins knew at about the halfway point things weren’t in his favor.t
Dave Mertz