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NEW YORK - (June 7, 2009) - Last year, organizers of the NYRR New York Mini 10K turned their race into a tribute to U.S. Olympians, inviting the three-woman marathon squad of Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet and Blake Russell to headline the event. With the first two back this year (Russell is just resuming jogging after giving birth to son Quin two months ago), the odds seemed good an American might wind up in the winner's circle for the first time since Kastor won it in 2004. And indeed, on Sunday morning in Central Park, as Kenya's Rose Kosgei turned around at four miles to see if her half minute lead was still intact, the eventual winner must have been somewhat surprised to see an American giving chase, cutting the deficit in half between 3 and 5 miles. The only thing was - it wasn't Kastor, Lewy Boulet or Amy Rudolph, another U.S. Olympian entered in the race. Instead, it was Serena Burla of Ellisville, Mo. - just five months removed from delivering her own firstborn, son Boyd - who was running, if not the race of her life, at least the race of her motherhood so far. Though Kosgei, 27, slowed in the second half, she went unchallenged to the finish line in 32 minutes, 43 seconds - the exact same time by last year's Mini champion Hilda Kibet. Burla, 26, ran an impressive race to set a 10K personal record in 33:04 as the surprise runner-up. Both Kosgei and Burla earned $10,000 (the latter's includes $5000 in U.S. prize money). Burla had also pulled off a "who's she" performance early last year when she took third at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, but her hopes of an Olympic team spot disappeared when she found out she was pregnant soon after. "It wasn't planned, but it's the greatest gift I've ever gotten," she said. Burla skipped the Olympic Marathon Trials in April, then shuffled through the track trials 10,000 meters 12 weeks into her pregnancy before shutting things down. She's obviously turned things back on in a hurry, using a crash course of training to hop back into the racing fray as if she hasn't missed a beat since Houston. "My coach is a genius," she said. "He got me hammering harder than I thought possible so soon after coming back, but he has confidence in me and I believe in myself and my training. I want to prove that you can have children and be an elite runner." She approached the 38th Mini, the longest running all-women's race in the world, with the same nothing-to-lose attitude that had served her well at Houston. "My coach told me, 'Don't be afraid, no one knows who you are - if you bonk, you bonk. Anyone can have a great day or a bad one.'" As it turned out, Burla's day was one of the former, and sends her toward the upcoming outdoor track nationals 10,000 in Eugene ith a greatly enhanced confidence. "We're just kind of taking it one at a time," she said of her current racing and training, but her excitement at her performance here obviously shows she is looking at a World Championships team slot with increased possibility. Meanwhile Kastor, who had been in town all week as part of the National Running Day festivities on Wednesday, played it safe with a pain in the same foot she had broken 5K into the marathon at the Beijing Olympics, opting to run a more moderate 7 minute mile pace in the company of New York Road Runners CEO Mary Wittenberg. "I don't want to do anything stupid that might jeopardize the rest of my season," which may well culminate with another run to the finish line at Tavern on the Green, this time in the ING New York City Marathon in November. Nearly 6,000 women, a significant increase over the past several years, signed up to run the race under some of the best conditions (clear sunny skies and low humidity) the Mini has enjoyed in several years. "I'm inspired by all these women, of all ages and abilities, getting out there and running," said Burla. A few more races like today, and she'll doubtless be inspiring them as well. 38th NYRR New York Mini 10K 1) Rose Kosgei (KEN), 32:43, $10,000 Complete results at: www.NYRR.org Latest articles in USA: Northeast
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