We couldn’t have asked for better weather for marathon weekend in Erie. We definitely showed visitors our best side this weekend with gorgeous blue skies, cool temps, and one really well-organized race.

I worked registration Saturday afternoon and know that it went off without a hitch (ok…a few hitches, but nothing we couldn’t handle) and the pasta dinner was well attended, with lines out the door and people enjoying Linda Huegel’s creations on the picnic tables inside and out of the Rotary Pavilion.  People raved, as always, about the food and how organized the whole dinner was.  Linda and her loyal kitchen crew have it down to a science.  If you’ve never stayed for the pasta dinner — you don’t know what you’re missing!

Race day dawned clear & cool and all the races started on time. That was unfortunate for me because…I really needed to use the porta-potty before the 1/2 started, but the line was barely moving, so….guess who had to, for the third time in 15 years of racing, make a pit stop during the race? Always discouraging as you lose valuable time, but…alas, I still had a 1:49, which I can’t complain about.

I’m especially proud of the husband — Dan finished the marathon in 3:27:27 — a full 10 minutes (TEN MINUTES) off his previous Marathon P.R., and my little brother, Patrick Bruce, who finished his first-ever marathon in 4:22, after having just done his first 1/2 marathon in July!

Congratulations to everyone who went the distance on Sunday — be that 3.1 miles, 13.1 miles or 26.2 miles.

MARATHON

There were 669 finishers in the marathon with top honors going to:

            CLASS
  ID#  PLACE PLACE           FINISHER                             TIME      PACE

Open Men
    1     1    1  Mike Aldrink, 35, Powell, OH                    2:30:26    5:44
  366     2    2  Aj Kelly, 30, Altoona, PA                       2:34:59    5:55
  249     3    3  Jake Gillette, 26, Goshen, IN                   2:39:34    6:05

Open Women
  223    20    1  Angie Fiese, 35, Mableton, GA                   3:04:10    7:02
  215    32    2  Traci Falbo, 40, Charlestown, IN                3:10:43    7:17
  403    45    3  Katie Kuttenkuler, 28, Erie, PA                 3:13:11    7:22

Masters Men
   50     9    1  Douglas Basinski, 41, Pittsburgh, PA            2:52:49    6:36

Masters Women
  351    70    1  Wendy Johnson, 44, Dublin, OH                   3:17:56    7:33

Marathon age group results can be found here.

HALF MARATHON

There were 1051 finishers in the half-marathon with top honors going to:

 
         CLASS
  ID#  PLACE PLACE           FINISHER                             TIME      PACE

Open Men
  931     1    1  Timothy Black, 29, Greensburg, PA             1:18:38    6:00
 1519     2    2  Christopher Patterson, 27, Webster, NY        1:18:48    6:01
 1620     3    3  Scott Saito, 48, Louisville, KY               1:19:32    6:04

Open Women
  903    10    1  Laina Bay-Cheng, 38, Buffalo, NY               1:25:54    6:33
  855    15    2  Mary Acker, 33, New Wilmington, PA             1:27:15    6:40
 1551    30    3  Jennifer Preteroti, 38, St. Clairsville, OH    1:30:28    6:54

Age group results for the 1/2 can be found here.

There was also a half-marathon walk. Results here.

AND….there was a 5K fun run, too, but results are not posted for that yet. Check here.

PHOTOS…PHOTOS…PHOTOS….

Professional Race Photos will be available shortly at www.runphotos.com

See 300+ photos from the GoErie Street View photographer Mike Conway  here.

See another dozen photos from Erie Times-News photographer Janet Kummerer here.

And…here is a slideshow of a few pix I snapped this weekend, heavily focused, of course, on my family and friends.