Froelick, Trujillo Stride Away From Field to Victories in Half Marathon

Marty Froelick said he doesn’t like to look back over his shoulder when he runs with the lead. In Sunday’s 10th annual America’s Finest City Half Marathon, Froelick wouldn’t have seen anyone behind him anyway.

Froelick, 29, from Colorado Springs, Colo., took the lead for good near the 5-mile mark, and went on to win the 13.2-mile race from Point Loma’s Cabrillo National Monument to Balboa Park in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 31 seconds to win the Mayor’s Cup. He finished 52 seconds in front of runner-up Jim Klein, 38, of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Maria Trujillo, 27, also of Scottsdale, said she maintained a consistent pace throughout the moderately hilly course and that helped her become the first woman to finish. Her time of 1:15.17 is the eighth-best for this race. Trujillo finished 31 seconds ahead of Janine Aiello of San Francisco.

“I don’t want to look back,” Froelick said. “If you do look behind, sometimes that will give the guy behind you some incentive. He’ll think, ‘Hey, he’s hurting and he’s trying to run as easy as he can.’ That gives the person some incentive to go after you a little harder.”

Broke Away From Pack

Froelick and Brent Friesth of Alamosa, Colo., broke away from a pack of a dozen runners near the 2-mile mark and ran in stride until near the 5-mile marker when Froelick, maintaining an almost mechanical rhythm, pulled away as Friesth faded.

“I think Brent Friesth kind of set it up,” Froelick said about his early pace that had him running 4:50 miles after the first 10 miles. “Benji Durden went out hard early and that kind of set the tone. He dropped off and Brent took it and he and I ended up together. For me that set the tempo for the rest of the race. When Brent dropped off, all I tried to do was run as hard as I could. I didn’t want to ease off and let somebody catch me.”

By the time the runners reached the 1 1/2-mile loop around Harbor Island--at the 7-mile mark--Froelick had widened the distance between him and Klein to more than 100 yards. Durden of Boulder, Colo., and Friesth were fading 200 yards behind the leader.

“I kind of wish somebody would have been there a little later because I think I slacked off a little bit after I got alone out in the flat part by the bay,” Froelick said. “I was glad I was alone near the end; that hill was tough coming up to the park.”

Mile Pace Slowed

That final incline of six-tenths of a mile up Sixth Avenue, slowed Froelick’s mile pace to 4:55 and kept him from seriously challenging Kirk Pfeffer’s 1981 record of 1:02.55.

“I was hoping to run a little bit faster,” Froelick said. “I’ll take a win any time. I think that’s indicative more than the time that things are going well.”

Trujillo’s plan was simply to maintain a consistent pace and eventually she would pass the leaders. She said she started out in seventh place and slowly passed the women in front of her.

At the Harbor Island loop, Trujillo was running third behind Patti Gray of Pleasanton and Aiello. She said Aiello passed Gray and at the 11-mile mark she passed them both.

“I run pretty much an even pace because I start out slow,” Trujillo, who received the OMBAC Cup, said. “That was my game, to start out slow. I thought the women’s field was very competitive. I expected them to go out very fast and I didn’t want to burn out with them.”

An estimated 5,700 runners participated in the event that benefits the American Lung Assn. of San Diego and Imperial Counties. However, 250 to 300 runners missed the start of the race when a shortage of buses delayed transportation from Balboa Park to the start at Cabrillo National Monument at the tip of Point Loma.

According to Catherine Walker, transportation committee chairwoman for the race, the bus shortage occurred when Taylor Bus Service chose to send fewer than the 55 buses called for by contract. Walker said she didn’t find out until 5:30 a.m. Sunday that she would be short 10 to 15 buses.

The problem got worse when police, working the event, stopped buses from proceeding to the start at 7 a.m. and signaled race director Neil Finn to start the event. According to Finn, five buses were cut off from reaching the starting line. Hundreds of runners were walking toward the starting line after the race had begun.