Heart of San Diego 10K Race : Plasso, Tooby Are Right on Track and Run Away With Easy Victories

Winning the Heart of San Diego 10-kilometer race Saturday was not the only concern for Frank Plasso and Susan Tooby. The race served other purposes for both.

But winning was not any problem for either one.

Plasso, the sixth-ranked marathon runner in the United States, took the lead about half a mile into the race and went on to finish nearly a minute ahead of the field of about 1,200 runners in 29 minutes 46 seconds. Eoin Fahy was second in 30:40.

Tooby, the fourth-ranked 10K runner in Great Britain, said she didn’t see another woman runner after the start. Her time of 32:53 was only four seconds slower than her personal best but was almost two minutes faster than second-place finisher Grace Wilson of Atlanta (34:44).

Plasso, 26, from Las Vegas, is training for this spring’s U.S. Olympic trials in the marathon by running a series of 10K races. He qualified for the trials last year with a 2:12:36, well under the 2:20 qualifying time.

Plasso has not run a marathon since he finished as the third American on the five-man team that ran in World Cup in Seoul, South Korea, earlier this year. He said he won’t run another until the trials.

“I’m gearing up for the trials with short races and lots of work in the gym,” said Plasso, who is hoping to improve on his best time in the 10K (28:42) and qualify for the 10K trials as well.

“I was sluggish the first couple of miles. But I got my legs turning on the downhills. It felt like a good race.”

There was a 300-foot drop in elevation from the start at Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma to the finish at Spanish Landing on Harbor Drive.

Tooby, 26, has had a break-neck schedule while traveling around the United States with her twin sister, Angela, the last four weeks. She also has run in Houston and Tulsa, Okla., and she ran 10Ks on consecutive days in Youngstown, Ohio, and Syracuse, N.Y. She will race in Raleigh, N.C., next weekend before returning to Wales. Angela Tooby went back last week.

Tooby said she had two reasons for coming to the United States.

She is trying to qualify for the British Olympic team. (She was sixth in the 10,000 meters in this year’s Commonwealth Games and was an alternate on the team that went to the world championships in Rome.) Running here helps her stay in shape between the cross-country and indoor track seasons in Great Britain.

But the main reason was to see different parts of the country.

“I had never seen San Diego or the West Coast before two days ago,” Tooby said. “I think that’s the main reason why I came here. I was supposed to go home 10 days ago, but I came here instead.”