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(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. BOSTON (21-Apr) -- Cool temperatures, brilliant sunshine and only light winds helped Kenyans John Korir and Sharon Lokedi win their first Boston Marathon titles here today in fast times.  Korir, 28, broke the race open with a powerful surge in the 20th mile and scampered to the finish line on Boylston Street alone in a quick 2:04:45.  Lokedi, 31, won a two-way battle with compatriot and two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri in the 26th mile and smashed the course record by more than two and a half minutes, clocking 2:17:22.  Both athletes won $150,000 in prize money, and Lokedi earned an additional $50,000 bonus for breaking the course record. KORIR GOES FROM THE PAVEMENT TO THE PODIUM Korir's race got off to an awful start.  About 100 meters into the competition he was tripped from behind and fell, ripping off his bib number. "I fell at the start," Korir told reporters after the race.  "I said, 'should I stay down or get up?'" He regained his feet quickly, tucked his crumpled bib into his shorts, and was running in 12th place by the 5-kilometer checkpoint, just two seconds behind the leaders Conner Mantz and Clayton Young of the United States, Patrick Tiernan of Australia, Yemane Haileselassie of Eritrea, and Wesley Kiptoo of Kenya.  In all, about 21 men were running together. Korir, following the plan set forth by his coaches, Ron Mann and Haron Lagat, and his brother, Wesley Korir (the 2012 Boston Marathon champion) Korir stayed "quiet," just grinding out the miles within the pack.  The pace was more than honest.  Through 20 kilometers the men surpassed all of the checkpoint times recorded by Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai when he set the course record of 2:03:02 in 2011. "I was surprised at how many people were in that pack (going so fast)," Mantz said at the post-race press conference.  "The pack was quite large through halfway, and it was quite large at the 18-mile mark, and I was a little concerned." Indeed, there were 16 men within two seconds of the halfway leader, Canada's Rory Linkletter, including last year's champion Sisay Lemma.  Like earlier in the race, Korir remained in the pack, waiting. In the famously downhill 16th mile, the pack ran a blistering 4:32 split.  That was too much for Lemma who dropped out.  Korir stayed tucked-in, then surged hard past the 20-mile mark just as Heart Break Hill begins. "For me, that was the plan," said Korir.  "We planned that with my coach and my brother." Korir, last October's Bank of America Chicago Marathon champion, stunned the field with a 4:39, uphill split.  In one mile, he built an 18-second lead which grew to 39 seconds by 35 km.  Beginning with mile-20, he ran mile splits of 4:41, 4:39, 4:24, 4:38, and 4:41.  By the 24-mile mark he was up by 55 seconds and everybody else was running for second. "It worked very well," said Korir matter of factly about his move.  "And I'm happy." Korir spread his arms as he crossed the finish line, and was immediately embraced by his brother.  The Korirs became the first brothers to win the Boston Marathon, and John Korir became the first man since Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot to win the Chicago Marathon in the fall then Boston the following spring (Cheruiyot did it in 2006 and 2007). Korir said that he did the same training for Boston as he did for Chicago, despite the fact that the Chicago course is completely flat. "We did the same like Chicago," Korir said, adding, "We repeated it for Boston." Behind Korir, a terrific battle was playing out for second place.  Mantz, Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu and Kenya's Cybrian Kotut were running together.  Mantz tried to make a move to break up the pack, but his legs just didn't have the snap that he had hoped. "Over the last 1000 (meters) there were three of us," said Mantz.  "I made a hard move and they responded as if I wasn't making any moves.  It was a little bit humbling." Simbu and Kotut pulled away from Mantz, who would finish fourth in a personal best 2:05:08, the second-fastest time by an American at Boston.  The two Africans ran side-by-side until just a few meters from the finish where, sprinting in earnest, Simbu got a step on Kotut.  Both men were timed in 2:05:04, but Simbu got second and Kotut --a younger brother of former New York City Marathon champion Martin Lel-- took third.  Debutante Muktar Edris of Ethiopia was fifth in 2:05:59, and Canada's Linkletter --the race leader at halfway-- took sixth in 2:07:02, the fastest Boston Marathon ever by a Canadian. LOKEDI AND OBIRI DO BATTLE AGAIN IN THE WOMEN'S RACE After a gentle opening mile of 5:46, the elite women made the collective decision to ramp-up the pace.  With Ethiopia's Rahma Tusa on the front, they hit 5K in 16:49, then dropped way down to 16:02 for the next 5K (32:51 at 10-K).  Remarkably, 15 women were willing to stay with that pace, just 13 seconds slower than the course record pace set by Ethiopia's Buzunesh Deba in 2014. "The pace was hot from the start and I think that played out well for me," said Lokedi.  "It was like go, go, go, go go." The lead women were just about level with course record pace by 15-K (49:10), but were well under that pace after Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw split the next five kilometers in 15:54.  Only Lokedi, Obiri, Ethiopia's Amane Beriso and Kenya's Irine Cheptai could hold that pace.  That group of five hit halfway in 1:08:46, and 25K in 1:21:22.  That put them about one minute under course record pace.  Lokedi loved the fast pace. "I was really grateful for them pushing from the start," said Lokedi.  "Because I think that's what made the outcome what it was." Cheptai was the first to fall off (she was 12 seconds behind by 30-K), then Beriso faded back by 35K.  Lokedi, Obiri and Yehualaw stayed together through 24 miles (which went into the books at a blistering 4:53).  Lokedi was doing all of the leading, and she motioned to Obiri to come up and help her (she did not). Early in the 26th mile, Obiri tried to surge away.  Lokedi immediately covered that move, then put in a surge of her own.  That was the decisive blow.  Lokedi ran the final mile in 5:04 (25.2 to 26.2), and that gave her a gap of 19 seconds over Obiri (2:17:41).  Yehualaw held on for third (2:18:06), and all three women broke Deba's course record. "I just tried to say, 'stay strong and keep fighting,'" Lokedi said.  "Fight, fight, fight, fight." Cheptai took fourth in 2:21:32, and fifth went to Beriso in 2:21:58.  Jess McClain was the top American in seventh.  Moving up from 16th place at halfway, she clocked 2:22:43, tying Joan Benoit's fourth-fastest time by a USA woman at this race set in 1983.  McClain, who finished fourth at the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon, was delighted with her finish. "First American is amazing, for sure," said McClain, who did much of her training in the pre-dawn hours in Phoenix where she lives.  She added: "Today it felt like a win for me." HUG GETS NUMBER 8 Switzerland's Marcel Hug won his 8th wheelchair title by over five minutes over American Daniel Romanchuk, clocking 1:21:34.  The win was particularly special for Hug because Bob Hall, the race's first wheelchair champion 50 years ago, was in attendance. "It's a really special moment," Hug told reporters.  He continued: "He opened the door for us to be able to participate here." American Susannah Scaroni won her second Boston title, defeating Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner with a fearless descent in the 16th mile. "My years of experience gave me a lot of confidence not to brake on that hill," Scaroni said.  She added: "I think I was just a little bit less cautious there.  Then we went into my favorite part, the uphills." Scaroni won by more than two minutes.  Like Hug, she won $50,000 in prize money. By 3:15 p.m., 21,727 runners had crossed the finish line (of about 28,928 starters).  The official number of finishers will not be known until tomorrow. PHOTO: John Korir of Kenya winning the 2025 Boston Marathon in 2:04:45 (Photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)  

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. BOSTON (19-Apr) -- With well-timed long kicks, American Casey Comber (Under Armour) and Kenyan Dorcus Ewoi (Puma Elite Running) took the wins at the 15th B.A.A. Invitational Mile on the streets of Back Bay.  The 28 year-old Comber, who competed collegiately for Villanova, successfully defended his title from last year, running 4:06.2.  Ewoi, 28, who ran for Campbell University during her NCAA career, won in her debut at the race, clocking 4:42.6.  Both athletes won $3,000 in prize money. Comber's experience on the course played to his favor today.  When he first ran the race in 2023, Olympian Hobbs Kessler got the best of him in the final two turns of the three-loop course.  Last year Comber did a better job positioning himself on those turns, and it paid off with a win.  He basically did the same thing this year, getting the inside line turning from Newbury to Exeter Streets, then punching the gas for the final left-hand turn onto Boylston Street for the finish.  Canada's Aaron Ahl was close behind, but just didn't have Comber's finishing speed. "I've been here three years in a row," Comber told reporters.  "Hobbs got the best of me that first year... kind of got a better angle on me on one of those turns.  And now every year I come down I look at where the cones are laid out, and it always kind of comes into play on that last lap.  Everyone is trying make a move on the corners." Ahl was timed in 4:06.4, and Australia's Mick Stanovsek (Puma) took third in 4:06.6.  Nick Willis's 2013 course record of 4:03.3 stood up for the 11th straight year. Ewoi made a similar move to Comber.  On the third and final lap, she made sure she was near the front on Newbury Street (essentially the backstretch) then surged hard before those final two turns.  She emerged onto Boylston Street with a comfortable lead, and was able to relax her stride through the finish line where she smiled and raised her right hand as she broke the tape. "I was just going to stay with the people and run with them," Ewoi told reporters.  "Whatever move they make, I'm just going to cover every move.  Then, how I feel the last lap, do whatever I want." Laurie Barton (Atlanta Track Club Elite) won a tight sprint for second over Kate Mitchell (New Balance Boston), 4:44.0 to 4:44.4.  Nicole Sifuentes's 2017 record of 4:33.7 was never under threat. In the invitational high school miles, which featured athletes who live in the eight towns and cities which the Boston Marathon transverses, the winners were Ciara Evans of Newton (5:12.1) and Altamo Aschkenasy of Brookline (4:25.7).  Evans is the daughter of two-time Irish Olympian Sinead Evans (née Delahunty) who had a mile personal best of 4:27.38.  Evans ran shoulder to shoulder with defending champion Sasha Lamakina of Framingham for most of the race, but pulled away from her rival in the final quarter mile to win easily by more than seven seconds. "Having both my parents, especially my mom who ran professionally, is very inspiring, always looking out for me," said Evans.  "I'm very lucky to have two parents who understand the sport, how disappointing it can be but also how rewarding it can be." Aschkenasy overwhelmed the competition in the final quarter, running away from Bilal Elhaji of Boston, to win by nearly six seconds.  Aschkenasy, who ran the race for the first time, came very close to Sam Burgess's 2022 high school course record of 4:25.4. "The last corner I just turned up the heat," said Aschkenasy with his sunglasses perched on his head.  "I know I have a really good kick." PHOTO: Dorcus Ewoi winning the B.A.A. Invitational Mile (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)    

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. BOSTON (19-Apr) -- Eritrea's Dawit Seare (Hoka) and Ethiopia's Gela Hambese (adidas) won the 15th edition of the Boston 5K presented by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in sprint finishes this morning in 13:33 and 14:53, respectively.  The two athletes got to enjoy the grand finish line of the Boston Marathon which was used for the 5K this year, a change from the traditional finish at the Public Garden four blocks to the east.  Both athletes won $8,000 in prize money. The men's race featured many pace and leader changes, and the 20 year-old Seare was in the thick of it the entire time.  After the leaders split the first kilometer in a sluggish 2:55, Seare took the lead and was followed by Britain's Henry McLuckie.  The pace stayed tepid through the first mile (4:39), and not a single athlete had been dropped from the 20-man elite field. "The pace was a little slow at the beginning," Seare told Race Results Weekly with translation help from his manager, Hawi Keflezighi.  "So, I started surging.  I wanted to surge so they wouldn't out-kick me (at the end).  I wanted to take the kick out of the other runners." Seare, Canada's Thomas Fafard (Brooks), Kenya's Amon Kemboi (Puma Elite Running), Britain's Patrick Dever (Puma Elite Running), and Biya Simbassa (Asics) were in the front at 2K (5:42) when Seare surged again and the leaders went through 3K in 8:26.  At that point Dever and Kemboi started to work together to break the race open. "When we hit that 3K I just said, drop the hammer straight away," Dever told reporters.  "I knew Amon would be right there with me.  Our coach (Alistair Cragg) is always telling us, when you're making moves like that, try not to think too much.  Just turn the brain off and go for it." Kemboi and Dever's surge brought the race through two miles in 9:01 (4:22 for the second mile), and that cut the field to just four: Kemboi, Dever, Seare and Simbassa.  That set up an all-out, straight-line, 800-meter sprint on Boylston Street to the finish.  Simbassa slipped off the back first and would finish fourth in 13:40.  Seare started to lose touch, too, but he was really just gathering himself for the final sprint. "I was exhausted after all the surging," Seare said.  "But, I knew they would be more exhausted and beat-up.  I felt like I had the energy to go." Seare sped past Kemboi and Dever to get the win, and Dever got second (13:35) and Kemboi third (13:37).  Max Turek of Canada rounded out the top-5 in 13:52. Although Seare is young, he has already performed well at top events.  He ran an Eritrean record for 10K in Valencia last January (27:21), and finished tenth at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in the 3000m in March.  This was his first race in the United States, and he was clearly pleased to record a win on Boylston Street. "I am very happy and I would love to come back to win again," said Seare. The women's race was only decided in the final 200 meters.  Hambese simply out-legged both Kenya's Grace Loibach (Nike) and Taylor Roe (Puma Elite Running) to get the win.  Loibach passed Roe just a few meters from the tape to take second in 14:55 to Roe's 14:57.  Ethiopia's Tsigie Gebreselama (On) took fourth in 15:01, followed by compatriot Lemlem Hailu (Nike) in 15:02. "It was so nice," said Hambese, who got translation help from the U.S.-based Gebreselama.  "I'm so very happy." Roe, who had set USATF records at 10K, 15K and 10 miles two weekends ago at the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile in Washington, D.C., definitely felt that huge effort in her legs today. "I mean, I did what I could today," said Roe, who set a personal best.  "This one was more about just like racing, try out some different tactics."  She continued: "I definitely went out too early, I would say.  I mean, I don't regret it; strung out the field and got it going.  We live and we learn and we sharpen up for track." In the elite wheelchair competition, Switzerland's Marcel Hug got his third win in a row in 10:02.  Eden Rainbow Cooper of Great Britain successfully defended her title in the women's race, clocking 12:08, just one second ahead of 8-time Paralympic gold medalist Tatyana McFadden.  Both wheelchair winners earned $2500 in prize money According to Boston Athletic Association officials, 9137 athletes finished today's race, about the same as last year (entries for this event are capped). PHOTO: Marcel Hug of Switzerland and Eden Rainbow Cooper of Great Britain were the winners of the wheelchair competition at the 2025 Boston 5K presented by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. BOSTON (18-Apr) -- Before becoming an elite athlete who set American records in the marathon and half-marathon, Keira D'Amato was a recreational runner trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which will be held for the 129th time on Monday (the 2020 race was conducted virtually).  She signed up for the Missoula Marathon in 2013 and hoped to make the then qualifying time for a 28 year-old of 3 hours and 35 minutes. "The only reason I wanted to run a marathon was to try to qualify for Boston for 2014," D'Amato told Race Results Weekly at a press conference here this morning.  "This was the year I had just seen the bombing and that inspired me to do my first-ever marathon." D'Amato, whose maiden name was Carlstrom, was not an ordinary beginner.  She had competed in the NCAA system at American University where she finished sixth at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships and ninth in the 5000m at the 2006 NCAA Track & Field Championships.  Still, she had no idea how difficult a marathon would actually be. "I didn't really train as hard as I should, and I wasn't really running at the level I was (in college)," said D'Amato, who ran 3:49:56 that day.  "I went in and I was just taught a huge lesson to respect the marathon.  Maybe like 16 to 18 miles (in), and I walked a lot.  I finished --I was really proud to finish-- but it humbled me and really taught me to respect the marathon as a distance." D'Amato, 40, who re-booted her running career in 2018 after having two children and establishing a career in real estate, went on to run more than an hour and a half faster than she did in Missoula, setting a (since broken) American record of 2:19:12 in Houston in 2022.  She enjoyed even more success, placing eighth in the 2022 World Championships, and taking sixth at the BMW Berlin Marathon later that same year.  She's broken 2:23 three times. But the marathon would humble her again.  In 2024 she dropped out of both of her marathons, the Olympic Trials in February and Chicago in October.  Her Chicago experience was particularly painful.  She had moved with her family to Utah to train under Brigham Young University coach Ed Eyestone, and had prepared very well.  She thought she was in shape to challenge her personal best. "Building up for Chicago, that was one of my best builds," D'Amato explained.  "Mileage was there, the strength was there, I was seeing times I had never really seen in workouts.  Five-K into the race my foot started hurting, every K after that it started hurting more, and at 15K I felt it just break. I had to step off. It was very humbling.  You work so hard for these goals and, and when you realize that this isn't my day you just kind of have to accept it, learn from that and move on." Marathoners need to balance confidence and humility in order to be successful, especially in Boston where the fields are strong, the course is hilly, and the weather can be fickle. "I try to tell every beginner that the event always wins," said Kevin Hanson, who with his brother Keith, coaches athletes at the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project in Rochester Hills, Michigan.  "The marathon always wins.  Even people who have debuts that are outstanding and think they have it figured out... are always still learning." Conner Mantz, who won the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials and finished eighth in the Paris Olympic Marathon, doesn't see confidence and humility as being in conflict.  In essence, they are two sides of the same coin. "I don't think there's any other distance that requires so much humility," Mantz told Race Results Weekly.  "You can blow up in a marathon and run so bad no matter how well your training went.  I feel like humility and confidence aren't the opposite at all.  I think being humble is knowing yourself and knowing what you can do, respecting others but also respecting what you've done to get where you are.  So, it's a confidence thing, but not believing you can do more than anyone else." Monday will be Mantz's second crack at Boston.  He finished 11th in the 2023 edition of the race in 2:10:25, a disappointing performance after he ran a celebrated 2:07:47 debut in Chicago six months earlier. "The last Boston Marathon I ran, the last two miles I was like, I can't believe I'm running this slow," said Mantz, wincing as he spoke.  Like, I didn't even know how slow I was running.  My last two miles were, like, six-flat pace.  My first marathon had gone so well that I couldn't believe that my second was going so poorly." Two-time Olympian Kara Goucher had a similar experience.  In her marathon debut at the 2008 New York City Marathon, she ran what was the fastest-ever debut by an American woman, finishing third in 2:25:53.  But at the same race in 2014, she had a soul-crushing experience.  Running the second half more than nine minutes slower than the first, she finished 13th in 2:37:03.  She would run only one elite marathon after that. "I had never hit the wall before," Goucher said.  "I've heard people talk about it and I was like, you obviously didn't train right.  Then in 2014 I don't even remember the last eight miles of that race.  I remember I was looking for my coach, Coach Wetmore, because I wanted permission to drop out.  Afterwards I was like, 'You said you were going to be in Central Park!'  And he goes, 'I looked right at you and told you to hang on.'  I don't remember any of that." For D'Amato (pictured at right), who is running her first Boston Marathon, she is headed into Monday's race feeling little pressure.  She is grateful to be healthy again and, with a humble heart, just wants to feel good on the course and see what she can do. "Lining up on Monday for Boston I feel really grateful, and really thankful," D'Amato said.  "It's a gift that I'm healthy and I can hopefully crush it on Monday."  She continued: "I have never felt pressure in running, external pressure.  I have a lot of goals that I want to reach, but I don't think anyone, including myself, thought I'd ever make it this far.  From that first marathon, bonking and hitting the wall, I never thought I'd do another marathon.  Every time I line up I just feel appreciative for it." PHOTO: Keira D'Amato in advance of the 2025 Boston Marathon (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly) PHOTO: Conner Mantz winning the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Men's Marathon in Orlando, Florida (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)  

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. (03-Apr) -- Coming off of a year where he set personal bests from 1500m to 10,000m, two-time USATF national champion Drew Hunter will run the longest race of his career on Sunday, the 52nd edition of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile in Washington, D.C.  Hunter, 27, who lives in Boulder, Colo., but grew up in nearby Virginia, will also be competing in the USATF 10-Mile Championships, the race-within-the-race at the Cherry Blossom, where he hopes to beat national road running champions like Hillary Bor, Biya Simbassa, Leonard Korir, Shadrack Kipchirchir, and Alex Maier. "I feel like every year I put a race on the calendar that's a challenge for me, but also just something different," Hunter told Race Results Weekly in a telephone interview from Boulder on Tuesday.  "Last year that happened to be a track 10K.  I'd never done one; I'd focused on the 1500 most of my career.  I was just like, this is going to be hard, challenging, but it's something new.  I think it's really important for us athletes to just stay inspired by our running." Hunter will face an extra challenge in Sunday's race.  He's still recovering from the 10,000m personal best he ran at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., last Saturday night where he finished 11th (fourth American) in 27:24.49.  Coached by his mother, Joan, the 2021 USATF 5K road running champion has been getting ready for this two-race peak since he started his winter training. "Cherry Blossom fit in really well with my schedule," Hunter continued.  "The 10K was the priority, so I could run the 10K and still race Cherry Blossom.  I think the 10-mile will be a good distance for me."  He added: "I really wanted to hit the 10K hard, then race the Cherry Blossom and see what I can do.  It's a little freeing, not doing a 10-miler before.  It's my longest race, ever.  Expectations are low, and that's sort of fun for me." Although Hunter founded the adidas-backed Tinman Elite program in Boulder, he is no longer an official member of that group since his eight-year sponsorship with adidas lapsed at the end of 2024 and he signed a new four-year contract with Asics.  Still, Hunter does some of his training with the Tinman group which is evolving into a marathon-focused team.  That's been particularly helpful for his build-up for these two longer races. "I train a lot with (Tinman's) Reed Fischer and he's run really well over that distance," Hunter explained.  "So, I'm very, sort of like, intrigued to see what I can actually do." Hunter --who turned pro right out of high school in 2016 after initially deciding he was going to enter the NCAA system at the University of Oregon-- has focused his career mostly on middle distance running.  He beat Alan Webb's national high school indoor mile record in 2016, running 3:58.25 (his first sub-four mile) then ran 3:57.81 later that season.  He eventually lowered his mile time to 3:54.80 in 2022, and last year ran a snappy 3:33.78 for 1500m. Hunter stressed that running two long-distance races two weekends in a row doesn't signal a move away from the track or the mile.  Instead, he said, he hopes that this phase of his training, which included an 18-mile long run, will make him a better all-around runner. "I just have to get strong," Hunter admitted.  "Racing an over-distance race is really good for me to do.  Just in training, just for the preparation I've done for it, will set me up for a great track season."  He added: "I can really be solid in anything I put my mind to." Hunter's 2024 track season was short, but impactful.  After making USA Olympic Team Trials qualifying marks for both 5000m and 10,000m, Hunter decided to focus all of his energy on running the 10,000m.  He saw an opening for one team spot assuming that Grant Fisher and Woody Kincaid would take the top-two spots (they did).  Near the end of the race, Hunter came close to beating former Northern Arizona star Nico Young; Young only beat Hunter by .95 seconds. Hunter recounted how his mother helped prepare him for one mighty peak at the Trials. "I think I can show up at the Olympic Trials and have my very best race of the year be at the Olympic Trials," Hunter recalled thinking a year ago.  "While under pressure, I think a lot of the other guys will be cooked, they'll be tired, I think they'll be training-through.  I think I can run really well, and my Mom developed a program for me that would have me ready then.  It took a leap of faith --like I didn't run amazingly in some of my earlier races, like U.S. cross country (he finished ninth), and some other things-- but I ran my best race of the year at the Olympic Trials when it mattered the most." Hunter has been a pro for almost a decade, and his recent switch of sponsors --and having a second daughter with his wife Sandy last September-- gave him a chance to reflect on his career, both on the field of play and off.  He has surprised himself, he said. "I did a lot of things in my running career I never thought I would do," said Hunter.  "I started a team, I made a shoe with a company, I sold millions of dollars of gear.  Those are things --they're not running goals-- but they're things I'm very proud of that I accomplished in my career.  So, I think that my path is my path, and my journey is not over with yet.  This new contract with Asics, the excitement about future races, I really feel like I have a lot more to give." On Sunday in Washington, where Hunter said he'll be racing in the Asics Metaspeed Edge, he'll have a lot of support throughout the weekend.  Growing up in Loudoun County, just a one-hour drive northwest from central Washington, he plans to see friends and family alike.  He will also be joining a Hunter family tradition of going to the Cherry Blossom, a race historically known as the "Runner's Rite of Spring." "It's a race that I've always wanted to do," said Hunter.  "One of my first memories of running, actually, was my Dad took some Reston Road Runners to the Cherry Blossom when I was a little kid and I got to watch.  I grew up outside of Northern Virginia, so D.C. is very close to home for me.  All of my in-laws will get to watch me run.  Some of my friends from high school will get to come out and see me run."  He added: "I'm excited to sort of go back home.  I'm actually spending some time with my family afterwards, some of my friends, and we'll celebrate my sister's birthday which is on the day of Cherry Blossom." ** The 52nd Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile will start near the Washington Monument with the elite women's race at 7:18 a.m., followed by the elite men and masses at 7:30 (last year's race had 17,856 finishers).  The race has an $80,600 prize money purse ($48,600 for the national championships), and is also part of the prestigious 2024/2025 Professional Road Running Organization (PRRO) Circuit.  The 28th PRRO Championship will be held at the Utica Boilermaker 15-K on Sunday, July 13, in Utica, N.Y. PHOTO: Drew Hunter competing at The TEN in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., on March 29, 2025 (Photo by Kevin Morris and provided by Asics; used with permission)