Sitting curbside near the corner of Aspen Avenue and San Francisco Street after winning the Flagstaff Downtown Mile elite women’s title on Thursday morning, NAU’s Maggi Congdon barely had time to catch her breath before she was asked about the race.
No, not the annual July 4 Downtown Mile, in which Congdon cruised to victory in 4:44.
She was asked, rather, about The Race, her incredible five-second personal best of 4:02.79 at last week’s U.S. Olympic Trials 1,500-meter semifinals that catapulted her into the finals at the tender age of 21. Her effort in the semis was one of the big surprises of the just completed Trials and, it turned out, no one was more surprised than Congdon herself.
“I mean, I knew in my head I could run 4:05 (at the Trials), but it was surprising to go 4:02, that’s for sure,” said Congdon, who decided to jump into the local race during what was scheduled to be her “off” week after Eugene.
It was no surprise that Congdon won the women’s elite mile, though Lumberjack teammates Annika Reiss (second) and Nikita Moore (fourth) and NAZ Elite’s Stephanie Bruce, who pulled off a double on Thursday by winning the Women’s Masters and then jumping into the elite, made it interesting.
Congdon, who’ll be a senior at NAU next year, peaked at just the right time for the three U.S. 1,500-meter races, after a minor injury, post indoors, delayed her NAU outdoors season. That fitness obviously carried over to Thursday’s downtown mile.
Asked if is wished she had the level of fitness she had at the Trials when she ran the NCAA championships three weeks earlier (she ran 4:07.81 in the semis and 4:10.41 in the finals, placing ninth), Congdon spoke of having perspective.
“I was so proud of that race (the NCAA) in that moment,” Congdon said. “That was definitely the best I could do on that day. But maybe if I had been able to start racing earlier so that (the NCAAs) was my actual peak, I think I could’ve placed higher. But I’m glad it worked out, because then I could peak for the trials.”
NAU Coach Mike Smith, who was the starter for all the morning’s races, no doubt will be happy to know that Congdon now will take some downtime before her final cross country season at NAU.
“This is technically my off week,” she said, smiling. “But I just decided to do this. But I won’t run after this until sometime next week, then build back slowly and not do workout for a while.”
Other winners in Flagstaff Thursday included Under Armour Dark Sky’s Abrham Tesfamarian in the men’s elite race in 4:08, giving him back-to-back Flagstaff mile titles.
Tesfamariam perhaps is better known as the fiance of Olympic Trials 10,000-meter champion Weini Kelati, also of Dark Sky. He said after Thursday’s race that he’s put his running on hold to help Kelati prep for the Olympics.
“Weini is going to be in (St, Moritz, at altitude) before Paris, so I’m trying to get a Swiss visa to join her there,” he said. “I hope to be able to do it.”
Tesfamariam shrugged when asked about his own running, saying he “enjoys doing this race in Flagstaff” but has put his running on hold for Kelati’s Olympic bid.
Citizen races: Flagstaff’s Fiona Nicholson, 27, the former Flagstaff High School runner, was the women’s winner in 5:07, 13 seconds ahead of Flagstaff’s Johanna Briscoe. Madeline Freriks of Flagstaff was third in 5:32. The men’s race was won by Jonathan Volpe, 21, a middle-distance runner at Division 2 Southern Connecticut State.
Masters races: Bruce’s victory in 5:03 was the course record for masters (40-plus) women. Flagstaffians also finished second and third, with Renee Metivier (5:16) and Stephanie Hunt (5:44) rounding out the podium. The men’s masters race was won by Jay Stephenson from Rome, Ga., while former NAZ Elite pro Ben Bruce was second in 4:47 and Flag’s Jesse Chettle third in 4:50.
Stephanie Bruce,, like Congdon, was coming off of the U.S. Olympic Trials. Bruce finished 22nd in the 10,000 meters, a race well slower than her top marks. She admitted disappointment with her effort, but said Thursday she is looking to bounce back. Her next race is the USATF 6K Road Championships in Canton, Ohio.
Talking about her trials experience, Bruce said she had been dealing with “gut issues” for three weeks prior to toeing the line.
“It’s been plaguing me, basically, since the birth of Sophia,” Bruce said, referring to her 9-month-old daughter. “The gut is the epicenter of the whole, so… I’d kind of have periods of feeling good in training. And then all of a sudden, it’s a slow demise. And I think that’s what happened the last three weeks leading in. I was trying to be optimistic, but I got out there and I knew from the start I knew I didn’t have a lot of firepower.
“A lot of people say, ‘You can just use your baby (as an excuse),’ but I won’t. I mean, yeah, a human came out of your body nine months ago, so I’ve been trying to walk the line (in training and recovery). I’m super competitive, because this is my job, and I want to do the best I can and be up there with the best in the country, but I’m giving myself grace that I have a 9-month old.”
Bruce said she has not determined her fall marathon schedule.
Leave a Reply