Photos By Tom Woo
Runner-up from Last Year Takes Top Prize As Rain douses runners
After two years of taking hits from the global pandemic, Rochester’s premier road race had another outside force to deal with: Mother Nature.
Severe storms with lightning and heavy rains forced many runners off the course for 10 to 15 minutes, confusing times and cutting the official number of finishers. On the 25th running of the Med City Marathon May 28, officials directed runners into buses as the inclement weather dropped torrential rain and lit the darkened sky with lighting.
“Although the weather emergency was frustrating, the call to shut down the course was in the best interest of the runners,” race organizers wrote on the website after the race.
Still, many did outpace the storm—almost 100 people in the marathon race had run ahead of the severe storm and sprinted in soggy shoes through the humid air to secure an official finish time. Others were given exhibition times. All received medals and shirts.
vindication in victory
Though the officials had no cash prizes planned this year, first-place finisher Michael Walentiny took home the ultimate vindication. In 2021, the winner passed Walentiny in the final yards for the closest-ever finish. This year, the 34-year-old from Lewiston pulled ahead of Bryce Shirley at mile 16. He never saw Shirley again.
“The win felt really good because the last four miles I was looking over my shoulder the entire time,” Walentiny said of his fifth entry and first win at Med City. “I was really happy—especially after the year before.”
Walentiny won decisively this year, clocking a 2:39:46. Shirley finished second in 2:50:25. The 22-year-old Shirley traveled up from Omaha for the race. Third-place Ben Jones, 32, came from Yorktown Heights in southeastern New York and ran 2:50:39.
The plodders in the front of the pack did plow through heavy rain, but they didn’t have the worst of the weather.
“I heard other people’s races were delayed because of the thunder and the lightning in the area,” Walentiny recalled. “I was out during about seven minutes of the heavy rain.”
Walentiny developed his natural talent for running only after studying business at St. Cloud State and getting an MBA from Viterbo University in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He laced up the shoes post-graduation, when he got a job in Winona. He now lives near the river city with his wife and three children.
“The kids are good sleepers,” he said. “I usually get up around 4 a.m. and run. I put in a lot of treadmill miles.”
The miles have been paying off—especially the past two months. In late April, he won the Storm the Park 45K (27.96-mile) trail race in Whitewater State Park with a time of 4:33:06. Then he finished second not once, but twice, in Wisconsin marathons: he ran 2:36:12 at the Eau Claire Marathon May 1 followed by a 2:42:03 at the La Crosse Marathon May 7.
Three marathon distances in a month? Some coaches might scratch their heads, but Walentiny doesn’t question the method.
“I don’t follow a training plan, I just wing it,” he said. “I was thinking of Med City as more of a training run for Grandma’s Marathon coming up.” He said he’s looking to break 2:30:00 in the Two Harbors-to-Duluth race set for June 18.
a mother’s comeback marathon
In the women’s competition at Med City, Lori Russell took the tape in 3:04:13 for her first marathon win. The 37-year-old nutritionist from Rochester had a baby, Rupert, just a year ago. The kiddo was on the course with his dad, Luke (who finished 12th in the half). Both were cheering for mom near the finish.
“I haven’t run a marathon in four years,” said Lori Russell, who mentioned how challenging it was to train with a newborn. “I had no concept of how it would go or what I would do. It felt good to be strong and consistent, and to just see where I got at the end.”
Two Wisconsin residents took second and third. Janesville’s Sarah Lancour, 37, came through in 3:22:59 and Madison’s Erin Mullan-Towns, 38, finished in 3:23:00.
The marathoners started at the Rochester airport with the half marathoners and 20-milers. Russell ran with a woman leading the half marathon through the gradual downhill from miles 5–9.
“I was trying to not get caught up in someone else’s race—with the downhill start, it can get out of control easily,” Russell said. After a while, she was on her own. She hit the storm around mile 17.
“The rain was refreshing, but my feet were soaked. We were running on a bike path; there were a lot of switchbacks.”
Russell played tennis and ran track at her Las Vegas high school, but she didn’t run during college. It was only after her undergraduate degree in Reno, Nevada, that she ran her first marathon. She finished in just over four hours. She felt she could improve, and she did—in the 2016 Columbus Marathon, she finished 11th for women in a personal best 2:56:11.
Now, Russell coaches others to find the right nutritional intake to increase athletic performance. Her two master’s degrees (one in exercise science from Concordia University, St. Paul and one in human nutrition from Eastern Michigan University) provide her with plenty of knowledge for her 20,000 Instagram followers.
“It wasn’t until I started running that I could really see you need a different technique when it applies to nutrition,” said Russell, who was quoted in the May issue of Runner’s World.
lightning nixes some 20-mile and marathon race times
The weather break in the race affected the number of runners who finished. Only 88 officially completed the marathon, one of the lowest number since the race began in 1996. Some full marathoners and 20-milers were diverted to finish early, boosting half marathon finishes to 525.
Officials worked to secure the course after lighting appeared and heavy rains mixed with hail. One runner on pace for a 5-hour full marathon described the sky growing darker, then seeing lighting flash before coming upon a large truck blocking the road. Buses were lined up and the runners were told to get on. Wet and chilled, they waited until the storm passed (about 15 minutes) before they could return to running. But when they reached the half-marathon, some were directed to finish instead of continuing on the full marathon loop.
The 20-mile also saw an all-time-low completion. Twenty-five official finishers were led by Chris Strub. The 36-year-old finished in 2:21:57 after he flew in from Greenville, South Carolina, and chronicled his journey on social media. James Smadbeck, 35, of Rochester followed in 2:22:27. Goodhue’s Andy McNamara finished third 10 minutes later. Local runner Katelyn Bauman, 28, won the 20-mile race for the women in 3:23:32. She was followed by Mayo Clinic cytotechnology student Mikayla Chadbourn, 25, from nearby Eyota (3:24:11) and 47-year-old Anna Sanchez (3:25:14), also of Rochester.
Other 20-mile runners were segued into the half marathon after getting off the buses and back on the course. Some participants complained that they were sent mixed messages—that the race was cancelled though people could still attempt a finish. Still, most entrants posted appreciation on social media sites, thanking the organizers for making safety a priority.
Nicholas Odhiambo flashes a grin on route to a 1:40:14 finish in the half marathon race. He was fourth in the men’s 50-59 age category.
Steve Deboer has run all 25 Med City Marathons since the race began in 1996 (two were cancelled: 2020 and 2018). Deboer finished with an exhibition time after being pulled off the course for a severe weather break. Deboer is also known for running every day for the past 50 years.
half marathon comes up half mile short; former UMAC Champ leads downhill course
Issac Boedigheimer repeated as winner of the Gillette Pepsi Rochester Half Marathon while running an average of 5:35 minutes-per-mile.
His time was 1:10:11, though he wrote that the top 30 runners were misdirected on the course and ended up running 12.6 miles total. Other runners showed similar distances on their GPS watches.
“It was a really great day, a really fun race, and the conditions couldn’t have been better,” Boedigheimer told KIMT-TV after he missed the worst of the storms.
Boedigheimer is familiar with speed: He won the 2018 UMAC Men’s Cross Country Championship race when he was running with a dominant University of Wisconsin-Superior team.
Local athlete Caleb Troe, 25, finished second in 1:16:07. He was tailed closely by Zionsville, Indiana, resident Matt Schafer, 33, who came in 15 seconds later. Schafer also noted the missing half mile on his Strava profile.
In the women’s race, former collegiate triathlete Darby Middlebrook put together 13.1 miles of 6:19 pace to take the tape in 1:22:45.
“It’s so fun to be able to get out and do these things again, really makes the training worth it,” the doctoral student at Mayo Clinic told KTTC-TV.
Thirty-year-old Rosalie Waller of Rochester finished second in 1:26:38. In third, Jessica Szczepanski, 29, traveled up from Flagstaff, Arizona, and crossed at 1:28:05.
med city’s Friday five
Ali Khalili strides along the Zumbro River path at the May 28 Altra Federal Credit Union 5K race. He went on to finish second in 18:46.
At the 5K, Heather Betts ran to a win for women (and masters women) in 23:30.
In the previous day’s 5K race, local runners ruled. Heather Betts, 40, of nearby Spring Valley, won the women’s race in 23:30 and local 24-year-old Chad Crouser won the overall race in 17:47.
He was followed by Ali Kahili, 32, of Byron (18:46) and a 12-year-old: Ryan Littlefield of St. Charles, whose shorter legs put together 6-minute-miles for a 18:52. Second for women was Kimberly Sundling, 32, of Lakeville (24:38). Rochester’s Ann Ciesla, 23, finished third (25:06).
race reunites and raises resources for ronald
The Med City races and surrounding running community raised money once again for a local foundation. The Ronald McDonald House of Rochester put on Saturday morning’s 5K walk to fundraise, and all the Med City participants had opportunities to donate. The foundation’s apartment building has housing for families to stay when their children are admitted to the Mayo Clinic.
“We were honored to be the charity of choice and over the past eight years the marathon weekend has had a tremendous impact on our organization,” said Angela Christensen, the organization’s development officer.
She said many families who have stayed come back for the event and it becomes a reunion. The donations were still being tallied after the weekend, but Christensen noted that last year the event raised $16,000.
“It’s a beautiful opportunity for families to support other families,” the organization’s executive director Peggy Elliott told KIMT-TV.