Undeterred in Albuquerque

Sunday, April 23, 2006, Marathon Day for Runner
By Glen Rosales
For the Albuquerque Journal

As Robert Feuer ran Saturday's Fiesta de Albuquerque Marathon to celebrate the city's Tricentennial, all he could think about was Greek mythology and Pheidippides, who ran the first marathon to announce an Athenian victory over the Persians.

"He died," Feuer said of Pheidippides' run, which was believed to be 26.2 miles, setting the standard for the modern marathon.

That was a little too apropos for Feuer, who was in a serious auto accident early Saturday morning on his way to the race start at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta grounds.

He was in the passenger seat of his partner's Kia Sportage waiting at a red light at Alameda and San Mateo. He turned and saw a Chevrolet Suburban towing a hot-air balloon trailer coming fast down the road at them.

"The guy was barreling down the road," said Feuer, an Albuquerque resident. "It looked like he had plenty of room to stop, but he never stopped."

Instead, the vehicle slammed into the rear end of the Sportage, crushing the back and sending it careening into the back of a pickup in front.

Feuer's head slammed into the windshield, leaving him dazed. A mile and a half from the starting line and woozy, the 41-year-old Feuer was not going to be deterred from his goal.

"I've been training for 41/2 months for this race," he said. "I've been running 60 miles a week."

So he ran the mile and a half to the starting line, arriving just in time to take off.

"I felt really dizzy for the first three miles," Feuer said. "I felt good for about 10 miles, then I got really dizzy and nauseous."

After crossing the finish line, he hunched over, wobbled a bit and staggered to the drink table to gulp down some Gatorade.

Despite his handicap, he still managed a time of 3 hours, 1 minutes and 46 seconds, good enough for sixth place out of 228 competitors.

"I was planning on doing at least 10 minutes better," Feuer said.

His time wasn't that far off the winning pace set by Steve Clarke of Tijeras, who recorded his second career win in a time of 2 hours, 45 minutes and 7 seconds.

"I was going to go on a 20-mile training run," said Clarke, 40. "I was real glad to see this marathon fall on day when I planned a long run. I've never run an Albuqeurque Marathon and I've wanted to."

Although he planned to slacken his pace with 6 miles to go, "I felt good at 20 miles, so I went for it," Clarke said. "I saw (runner up Lee Hunt) at the turnaround point and he was just a half-mile back and looking pretty good so I knew I couldn't just cruise it home."

Women's winner Jordan Vaughn, 27, of Albuquerque, who won the Duke City Marathon in 2002, was able to cruise through to the finish in a time of 3:08.45.

"It was kind of lonely in the second half," Vaughn said. "I was running with the half-marathoners until they all peeled away, then I was pretty much on my own."

In the half-marathon, Rigo Chavez of Azusa, Calif., finished in 1:20.28 to win the men's race, while María Cleofé Portilla of Albuquerque won the women's race with a time of 1:23.59

The men's 5-kilometer race went to Michael Dicks of Albuquerque in 19:28, and 13-year-old Nancy Holguin of Albuquerque took the women's race in 21:56.

But it wasn't all about the winners.

For instance, 64-year-old Raquel Luz, who moved to Albuquerque from the Philippines last year, walked the 5K despite having hip surgery in November.

She walks her dog every day and decided to put that training to use for the this event.

"I wanted to be with my daughter and my cousin and my friend," Luz said with a smile.