Allie Scott and FRB in local newspaper

Great picture of Sasha, the singlet is quite clear. I've posted the article text inline below, since HJ News doesn't keep their articles up for long. I've bolded other bloggers that appear in the article.

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Scott Blows Away Old PR
By Jason Turner
Published:
Sunday, September 21, 2008 2:33 AM CDT

So much for Allie Scott’s old personal record.

Heading into the 10th annual NordicTrack Top of Utah Marathon, the Salt Lake City native had never ran a 26.2-mile test of endurance in under 3 hours 13 minutes.

It turns out all of that extra training paid off Saturday as Scott destroyed her old PR — and the women’s competition, for that matter — by 16 minutes. The 21-year-old ran away with the title, finishing the Hardware Ranch-to-Merlin Olsen Park event in 2:56:58.

“It feels amazing,” said Scott, who is hoping to get accepted into the MBA program at Utah State. “I’ve never felt such a good feeling in my life when I crossed the line. It’s the best feeling of my entire life.”

Like 2007 champion Carol Rowe, Scott was never really tested, crossing the finish line nearly 15 minutes ahead of runner-up Julie Esplin.

There wasn’t nearly as big of a gap among the top two men’s finishers, but Ezekiel Ruto was also never in danger of losing his lead. The Kenyan-born runner finished behind course record-holder Hobie Call a year ago, but didn’t have to settle for second this time.

Ruto, who now resides in Marietta, Ga., grabbed the lead immediately and didn’t relinquish it, beating all comers with a time of 2:22:57.

“Today I felt better than last year,” Ruto said. “Last year it was so cold.”

Ruto was noticeably shivering after the 2007 TOU Marathon, but had no such problems this time around. The 33-year-old’s only minor hiccup was not having someone to push him and draft off of. As a result, Ruto fell short of his goal time of 2:19:20 and all-time best marathon clocking of 2:18.

“Yeah, it would have been nice,” Ruto said. “I started that way and I ran that way all alone. ... It would have been nice to have a pacemaker to improve the times.”

On the flip side, Scott had Esplin to push her for the first 13 miles. Unfortunately for Esplin, she was unable to put it into another gear when Scott made her move. Nevertheless, the Orem resident was plenty happy about placing second and the resulting $500 payout.

The men’s and women’s champions receive $1,000, while those who place second and third in both fields are awarded $500 and $250, respectively. The top men’s and women’s wheelchair athletes get $250.

“It was nice to have someone to run with,” Esplin said. “I’m happy for (Scott), because she was really nice.”

When asked what she attributed her vast improvement to, Scott was quick to credit those who have given her advice on a local online running blog.

“There’s a few things. First of all, I set the goal so I had to increase my training to met the goal,” Scott said. “And then I’ve also joined a running blog, it’s called Fast Running Blog, and it’s just kind of a community Web site where runners get together and just kind of encourage each other, give training advice ... and a lot of the advice I’ve gotten on there has really helped me.”

Because of her renewed commitment to the sport, Scott — who has aspirations of eventually qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials — knew she had a chance to place in the top three. She didn’t expect things to go this well, though.

“My goal was 2:58 and from that I realized I probably had a good chance of placing, and so I just decided I’m going to go for my goal first and whatever comes with my goal, I’ll take,” said Scott, who finished 17th overall. “And it happened to be first place, so I’m happy.”

Esplin, on the other hand, was hoping to set a new TOU record for women in the 35-39 division. She wasn’t quite able to eclipse the 3:09:12 standard, but wasn’t too disappointed because she had a blast.

“Just to listen to my body, see how I feel, and then try to hang on the last six miles,” Esplin said with a laugh when asked about her strategy. “I usually fall to pieces the last six miles, so I wanted to hang on. ... I sort of fell to pieces, but not enough to lose my standing in the race.”

Joining Scott and Esplin in the top five were Evelyn Williams (3:13:01), former Utah State gymnast Barbara Klein (3:13:15) and Jessica Patterson (3:14:17). Katie Lott was Cache Valley’s top placer as she finished sixth, and two other valley residents joined her in the top 10 in Jamie Williams and Jami Smith. Former valley resident Kara Roper occupied the eighth position.

Earning the runner-up spot in the men’s competition was former BYU harrier Nicholas McCombs. McCombs wasn’t able to approach his PR of 2:20, but still had a solid race, crossing the line in 2:28:42.

“I realized I wanted to start off not too hard and be strong at the end,” McCombs said. “That was my game plan, and it worked.”

Alexander Pachev, the 2003 and 2004 men’s titlist and TOU regular, was once again his steady self, placing third with a time of 2:33:47. Steve Cuttitta and Albert Wint finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 2:41:49 and 2:42:25.

Rounding out the top 10 were Logan resident Eric Held, Benjamin Vanbeekum, master’s champion Bill Cobler, Jason Schoenfield and Nate Clayson. The top 10 men all finished with times of 2:47:16 or better.