Zachary Holt Ran 2:45:38 at the San Francisco Marathon!

2:45:38! What a great time! Zach just posted one of the best local time in years at the San Francisco marathon. He ran his first marathon at 6:20 per mile pace and according to the race website, these were his splits:

Splits:	7.6 Mi	Half	20 mi	Finish
Times:	46:27	1:21:49	2:00:54	2:45:38
Pace:	6:07	6:15	6:03	6:20

Interestingly Zach is following in my footsteps. I started running in high school my sophomore year in track and so did Zach. We both started getting serious with cross country during our junior years and started during road races soon there after. We both ended up enjoying cross country and road races a lot more then track too.

But with his 2:45 day, he killed my high school best of 2:55 (Lompoc 1981) and my PR of 2:50 that I ran at the San Diego marathon my sophomore year of college. With this great debut, hopefully Zach will get the attention of some NAIA colleges because his time would qualify him for the marathon at their national track & field championships.

I spoke to Zach shortly after his race and he was lamenting his mistakes more then his huge achievement. He said he went out way too hard and wore racing flats that gave his some problems but he did walk through the aid stations which he said saved him. I had counseled going out slower and wearing his trainers but he 6:20 pace for 26.2 miles means he must of done something right.

If anything, I underestimated his potential and really though sub three was realistic but not a sure thing. Because everyone has been so slow here lately, I did not even think 2:45 was possible. I also trained my son to run a marathon earlier this year and he ran 3:16 and everyone thought that was an outstanding time.

For what has been done lately in marathoning locally it was good but hopefully Zach's time will make others realize that faster times can be achieved. What makes Zach's time impressive is that he went out hard and did not fade to badly in the last miles. He did slow down but he didnt die out there.

He told me at mile 15 he actually stopped and sat down for a bit. Someone asked him what BHS stood for and then he was told the lead women was near and he decided to get back in the race. The first women ended up running 2:46:34 for 20th place overall. Officially they have Zach coming in 15th overall as of Sunday night and he won the male 01 to 19 age group. Interestingly, 7th place was 2:41:16 and tenth was only 2 minutes in front of him.

The best time this year, that I could find for a Bakersfield runner was run by David Bacus at the OC Marathon. He was fourth there in a time of 2:52:57, Zach's time would of gotten him second there.

Now Zach is hooked on marathons and will have to decide which one is next. In the meantime, he plans on running cross country for BC and wants to run Boston next spring now that he has a qualifying mark. I plan on holding some fund raisers to send him to this great race. His time at San Fran would place him in the top 300 in the race and in the top 25 Californians in the race. So if you would like to help this young man go to Boston, please contact me.