This past weekend on Sunday, January 19th, some of the most talented distance runners in the United States took to the streets of Houston to run the Houston Half Marathon. While there was also a full marathon in Houston, it didn’t get the amount of hype as the Half Marathon since one of the best duos in American distance running history, Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, were running in the half to help prepare for the Boston marathon in about 13 weeks. These guys are typically full marathoners, so there were some other fast American runners in this race who mainly focus on the half marathon. 

     This race lived up to all the hype that surrounded it. Since it is a half marathon there is normally much more of a pack finishing all together rather than a marathon where one runner normally pulls ahead by the end. Sure enough, there was a pack of about 4 men who were all coming down the stretch together. Leading them though was Ethiopian Addisu Gobena but he was closely followed behind the American superstar Conner Mantz. Mantz found another gear though in this stretch and mustered up enough speed to get right beside Gobena at the line. When Gobena saw this he made a move toward Mantz and gave him a little bump to throw him off his line. Many people are not happy about this, since Gobena impeded Mantz’s line, which is illegal. This makes people think Gobena should be DQ’d. However, Gobena’s move worked and the officials declared that he narrowly beat Mantz in a photo finish with both of them running 59:17. 

     This was an outstanding race for Conner Mantz who came so close to a win. If the race was an extra 10 meters or maybe just an extra 10 feet, he likely would have won. This was probably a bitter-sweet finish for Mantz considering he was so close to winning. He still stole the day, however, by making a little bit of history. Conner Mantz officially ran the fastest half-marathon time by any American ever. Mantz deserves this honor now since he was the face of American distance running in the Olympics. 

     Conner Mantz took the United States half marathon record from Ryan Hall who set this record in 2007 –18 years ago! Coincidently, Ryan Hall got the previous record in Houston, 18 years ago, running a sub-60 time of 59:43 which was good enough for a win. Too bad that Conner Mantz’s faster time wasn’t good enough for the win but this is still a very impressive feat. 

     While Mantz might have beaten Hall’s record in the half marathon, Hall may still be seen as the greatest American distance runner of all time, since he still maintains the American marathon record with a time of 2:04:58 which was set at the 2011 Boston Marathon. Conner Mantz is on his heels though for taking the title of “best American distance runner of all time”. I think that Mantz is better. I was too young to watch Hall, but Mantz can confidently take this title of being the best American distance runner in Boston, which is in about 13 weeks, just like he took the United States half marathon record in Houston. However, Boston is a very hilly course but if Hall can do it, so can Mantz. Clayton Young, Conner Mantz’s training partner, can also make a run at this United States Marathon record in Boston since he is a very talented Marathon runner. Mantz has bested him the last three times at the Olympic trials, the Olympics, and the New York City marathon. However Young has been right behind him in all 3 of those races. Clayton Young didn’t have his best day in Houston, getting 10th and running 1:00:52, but this doesn’t mean he can’t challenge the record in Boston. 

      American distance running is in great hands with these two runners, and there are still three more Americans who finished in the top 10 in Houston. The conditions weren’t great in Houston, with gusty winds and freezing rain, but that didn’t slow down Mantz; he got a great record. All eyes will be on Boston in a few weeks to see if he or Young can beat the marathon record.