De Haven, in Tuneup for U.S. Trials, Sets Half-Marathon Course Record

Rod De Haven got a little sun and a bit of a run Sunday, and that beats time on a treadmill in Madison, Wis., any day.

He has had to do a lot of training in the living room of his snowbound home lately.

De Haven, the reigning U.S. half-marathon champion, showed why in winning the 13.1-mile tail that wagged the San Diego Marathon dog on a day when an ordinarily subordinate race overshadowed the main event.

Olympic years are hardly ordinary, and neither was the half-marathon field, which included nine runners stretching their legs in preparation for the U.S. marathon trials in February.

Seven of them ran faster than the race record, but that was largely an afterthought.

“This was just training,” said De Haven, who led most of the race and broke away from the pack on a downhill stretch at 5 1/2 miles along Carlsbad State Beach. “We just wanted to see how fit we are, and we weren’t all that concerned about winning the race.”

The answer is very fit. De Haven won in 1 hour 2 minutes 40 seconds, finishing well ahead of Guillermo Morales’ course mark of 1:07:09, set in 1991.

Michael Bilyeu, who was 32 seconds behind, Steve Plascencia, Danny Gonzalez, Mark Curp and Tom Ansberry all beat the old record in finishing second through sixth, and Anne Marie Lauck, of Marietta, Ga., won the women’s race in 1:11:23, beating Janice Ettle’s record of 1:13:54, also set in 1991.

De Haven’s fitness showed in that he beat his personal-best half-marathon time by 58 seconds over the runner-friendly course.

“Getting a PR [personal record] is good, but that’s not why I was here,” he said. “I just wanted to get in a rhythm, maybe try to run a 1:04. With this field--I expected Arturo [Barrios, who is injured] to run--and with Arturo and Steve and the others, I thought I could run fifth and be competitive.”

Lauck had similar aspirations, but less competition, breaking away from the women’s field after four miles and coasting in while wondering if she was going to make it.

“I really didn’t feel well,” she said. “My stomach felt queasy, and I ran the last half wondering if I was going to have to stop at a Porta-John.

“I just wanted to get in a run, and I didn’t want to go overboard.”

She finished 2:13 ahead of second-place Petra Wassiluk, who entered the event as a lark after winning a 5,000-meter race on Saturday.

“After that race, my legs felt good and I just decided to try the half-marathon,” Wassiluk said. “I’ve never run it before. I’ve always been a 5,000- or 10,000-meter runner, but this felt good and I learned from it.”

The men’s marathon was won by Aaron Pierson, a San Francisco waiter who recovered from a broken foot suffered in the Ocean State Marathon in Rhode Island in November. Pierson’s 2:23:08 was the slowest winning time since records were kept, beginning in 1989.

Marion Schoeler, a Toronto travel agent, won the women’s marathon in 2:48:17, a mile ahead of second-place Betsy Dias of Redwood City, Calif.