Bernard Lagat's half-marathon debut nabs 12th place finish in New York...
NEW YORK--Washington State University alum Bernard Lagat (left/photo by Victah Sailer, Photo Run/The Running Network) made his professional debut at the half marathon distance, finishing twelfth in the NYC Half Marathon through the streets of New York.
Wearing a neon tech shirt underneath his racing singlet, along with arm warmers and a skull cap, Lagat cruised through the streets of New York in a time of 1:02:33, as Kenya's Wilson Kipsang won in a time of 1:01:02.
With the temperature at the start of Sunday's race a brisk 30 degrees, the field was reluctant to go hard early, as the 1500 and 5000 meter legend tucked in behind Kipsang for about the first 15 kilometers.
Portland's Dathan Ritzenhein briefly took the lead after the 15k mark, but Kipsang made a move that essentially dropped Lagat.
Lagat said he tried to push a little more, but couldn’t move any faster. “The guys were hammering it up,” he said, still so cold that he wore his gloves in the post-race press conference. "I kept digging deeper because I wanted to run a good time.”
In reflecting on his first half-marathon, he said that it was tough, “But now I know how to run a half-marathon in the future.”
NOTE: The New York Road Runners and letsrun.com contributed to this report.
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