By Alex Abrami, Free Press Staff Writer • May 25, 2009
Four years ago, Justin Fyffe ran his first marathon in 3 hours and 38 minutes.“It was the most painful experience in my entire life,” the East Dummerston resident said.Fast-forward to Sunday’s KeyBank Vermont City Marathon where the 29-year-old, running in his 12th 26.2-miler, exercised personal demons. Fyffe, in crossing the line as the first Vermonter, ran a 13-minute personal best time of 2:27:32.
“I trained really hard for this race. I increased my mileage to 100 per week and I’ve been doing some speed workouts,” Fyffe said. “It’s paid off and I attribute that work to the 13 minutes.”Fyffe has steadily churned out better performances in the last four years. As he remembered his first marathon — “Instead of beating me down, I’m going to beat this marathon if it’s the last thing I do,” — there was no looking back.While a 2:40 time in a New Hampshire marathon last fall gave Fyffe confidence, the cool temperatures and rainy weather set the stage for a record-breaking run. Fyffe’s time was the fastest by a Vermonter in VCM’s 21-year history.
“I knew it was going to be a good day at the halfway point (1:13),” said Fyffe, a North Country Union High School graduate. “I felt in control of the pace, the overcast (weather) was ideal running for me."
“I trained really hard for this race. I increased my mileage to 100 per week and I’ve been doing some speed workouts,” Fyffe said. “It’s paid off and I attribute that work to the 13 minutes.”Fyffe has steadily churned out better performances in the last four years. As he remembered his first marathon — “Instead of beating me down, I’m going to beat this marathon if it’s the last thing I do,” — there was no looking back.While a 2:40 time in a New Hampshire marathon last fall gave Fyffe confidence, the cool temperatures and rainy weather set the stage for a record-breaking run. Fyffe’s time was the fastest by a Vermonter in VCM’s 21-year history.
“I knew it was going to be a good day at the halfway point (1:13),” said Fyffe, a North Country Union High School graduate. “I felt in control of the pace, the overcast (weather) was ideal running for me."
“I felt like I owned the marathon, instead of the marathon owning me.”
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