Napa Valley Half Marathon F65-69: Tami Dalen Runs Away With It

• Tami Dalen wins in 2:01:33 (9:16/mi), finishing more than six minutes clear of runner-up Eileen Smith (2:07:44, 9:45/mi).
• Eileen Smith's closing surge produced the 575th-fastest women's split on the final stretch (6.9M→Finish), moving her from 706th to 619th among women — a strong finish that locked up second place.
• Monique Parrish and Cindy Nalepa finished 6th and 7th in 2:32:28 and 2:32:48 respectively — just 20 seconds separating them across 13.1 miles.
• 21 finishers completed the F65-69 race, spanning from Dalen's 2:01:33 to Barbara Guerin's 3:46:54 (17:19/mi) in 20th.

Tami Dalen, a local from Napa, made the F65-69 race her own from early on. Running a steady 9:16/mi, she was never seriously threatened, and her 6:11 winning margin over Smith tells the story plainly. The 47°F morning with a 12 mph wind was classic Napa Valley half marathon weather — brisk enough to reward runners who found a rhythm and held it, and Dalen did exactly that.

The most interesting movement in the field came from Eileen Smith, who ran a catch-up race worthy of attention. At the 3.1M checkpoint she was 706th among women; by 6.9M she had climbed to 683rd; and by the finish she had surged all the way to 619th — gaining nearly 90 positions on the women's field across the back half. Her 9:45/mi average and 2:07:44 finish secured a comfortable second. Marcia Cho (2:09:47, 9:54/mi) rounded out the podium in third, while Sue Castleman (2:19:33, 10:39/mi) and Kathleen Sirois (2:25:55, 11:08/mi) claimed fourth and fifth.

Further back, the race delivered one of its tightest battles between Monique Parrish and Cindy Nalepa — 6th and 7th in 2:32:28 and 2:32:48 — with only 20 seconds between them at the line. Maria Howard and Fangju Zhang staged a similar duel for 8th and 9th, crossing in 2:48:15 and 2:48:18, just three seconds apart after more than two and a half hours of running.