From 4:01:38 to 2:39:36!
I was at the UH library last Thursday night while continuing to do some research for Jan Nierling at the Chevron Houston Marathon before heading out of town on Friday.
I was looking at some times from the late 1990s (1997, to be exact) and one line caught my eye:
205. John Yoder, Houston ............................ 3:12:35
I was surprised, to a point. I mean everybody can't be like 23-year-old running phenom Dathan Ritzenhein and run a 2:14:01 debut marathon like he did in New York City this November.
I also knew that John ran a 2:39:36 (gun time) PR! earlier this year at the Chicago Marathon.
Knowing that the 35-year-old Houstonian is a Chevron Houston Marathon veteran and will be running his 13th straight event this January, I began to list out his times.
I soon realized that I didn't have his 1995 and 1996 times. So I e-mailed John and here is what I was able to put together.
1995 - 4:01:38 (John stated that not only was this his first marathon, but his first race ever!)
1996 - 3:42:40
1997 - 3:12:35
1998 - 3:06:09
1999 - 3:10:10
2000 - 2:56:29
2001 - 2:48:23
2002 - 2:44:38
2003 - 2:50:34
2004 - 2:42:20
2005 - 2:47:04
2006 - 2:43:52
John was only one of three (3) Chevron Houston Marathon veterans (those who have officially finished 10 or more Houston Marathons) -- the other two being Rich Fredrich and Clent Mericle -- to run a sub 3-hour Marathon in 2006.
Yoder, who won Saturday's Fantasy of Lights 5K Jingle Bell Run in Sealy, is as nice a guy as he is an excellent runner (who has also done some incredible things such as the Ultracentric 48-Hour Run two Thanksgivings ago and the Sunmart 50-Miler last year).
I posted this to illustrate that not every "excellent runner" out there has just naturally had their success handed to them on a silver platter.
I was looking at some times from the late 1990s (1997, to be exact) and one line caught my eye:
205. John Yoder, Houston ............................ 3:12:35
I was surprised, to a point. I mean everybody can't be like 23-year-old running phenom Dathan Ritzenhein and run a 2:14:01 debut marathon like he did in New York City this November.
I also knew that John ran a 2:39:36 (gun time) PR! earlier this year at the Chicago Marathon.
Knowing that the 35-year-old Houstonian is a Chevron Houston Marathon veteran and will be running his 13th straight event this January, I began to list out his times.
I soon realized that I didn't have his 1995 and 1996 times. So I e-mailed John and here is what I was able to put together.
1995 - 4:01:38 (John stated that not only was this his first marathon, but his first race ever!)
1996 - 3:42:40
1997 - 3:12:35
1998 - 3:06:09
1999 - 3:10:10
2000 - 2:56:29
2001 - 2:48:23
2002 - 2:44:38
2003 - 2:50:34
2004 - 2:42:20
2005 - 2:47:04
2006 - 2:43:52
John was only one of three (3) Chevron Houston Marathon veterans (those who have officially finished 10 or more Houston Marathons) -- the other two being Rich Fredrich and Clent Mericle -- to run a sub 3-hour Marathon in 2006.
Yoder, who won Saturday's Fantasy of Lights 5K Jingle Bell Run in Sealy, is as nice a guy as he is an excellent runner (who has also done some incredible things such as the Ultracentric 48-Hour Run two Thanksgivings ago and the Sunmart 50-Miler last year).
I posted this to illustrate that not every "excellent runner" out there has just naturally had their success handed to them on a silver platter.
posted by WalkSports.com | 2:54 PM
1 Comments:
I'll second the thoughts about John. He has always been friendly at races and has had to work hard to get to that level of fitness.
Did you know he ran a 48 hour race in 1999 and completed 150 miles? Quite an achievement at 28 years of age.
Dalton
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