Jordan Hasay, 25, is making a smooth transition so far from a track-focused runner to a road racer. A member of the Oregon Project, based in Portland, she ran her first half marathon in Houston on Sunday in 1:08:40 for fourth place and sixth-fastest American of all time.
The performance bodes well for Hasay’s upcoming debut 26.2 miles in April at the Boston Marathon.
Her initial goal on Sunday was to finish in 1:08 and although she kept a 5:10 per mile pace through much of the race, she slowed slightly when she tripped on a piece of carpet at a water station. The heat and humidity also probably didn’t help any of the competitors. According to local weather reports, it was 63 degrees Fahrenheit with 97 percent humidity at the race start.
“We’re not disappointed, but we had high expectations coming,” Hasay said at the postrace press conference, presumably referring to her coach Alberto Salazar.
Hasay won $3,000 for her fourth-place finish and a $10,000 bonus for breaking 1:09, according to Race Results Weekly.
In the men’s competition, elbows were flying down the homestretch between U.S. Olympian Leonard Korir and Feyisa Lilesa, the Ethiopian who won silver in the Rio Olympic marathon. Korir crossed the finish line first, though both have times of 1:01:14. Lilesa once again crossed his arms above his head at the finish—a protest in support of his home country’s Oromo people, a crusade that has gained him much attention since he used the same gesture at the Games.
Korir, 30, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and ran the 10,000 meters in Rio, said the race didn’t go as planned and he expected to run faster.
“With 200 [meters] to go, 100 to go, it was a battle for the win,” he said.
In the marathon, Dominic Ondoro of Kenya won the men’s race in 2:13:05 and Meskerem Assefa was the women’s champion in 2:30:18. American Becky Wade placed third in 2:35:57.
