Rocket City Marathon F35-39: Rogers Runs Away With It

• Alysia Rogers won the F35-39 age group in 2:53:22 (6:37/mi), finishing 4th among all women — a dominant margin of 8 minutes 59 seconds over 2nd place.
• Purity Munene held 5th among women throughout the second half to claim 2nd in the age group in 3:02:21, while Jennifer Creps was a steady 8th among women wire-to-wire for 3rd in 3:13:20.
• Erin Almand was the race's biggest mover in the age group, climbing from 40th among women at 10K all the way to 17th at the finish — powered by the 10th-fastest women's split from 31K to the finish.
• Jessica Paschke ran the 10th-fastest women's split from 10K to the half, surging from 16th to 10th among women through the middle miles before settling 4th in the age group at 3:18:56.

Alysia Rogers turned in the standout performance of the F35-39 field on a warm, humid December day — 70°F, 76% humidity, and a 17 mph wind made a sub-3:00 marathon no small thing. Rogers posted the 3rd-fastest women's split from 10K to the half, moving as high as 2nd among all women before finishing 4th. Her 6:37/mi average held up across the full 26.2 miles, and the nearly nine-minute gap she opened over Munene tells the story plainly.

Behind Rogers, the podium was settled early and stayed that way. Munene ran a composed 6:57/mi to hold 5th among women from the 10K mark onward, and Creps was as consistent as it gets — 8th among women at every checkpoint, crossing in 3:13:20. There were no dramatic late surges between them; the order was decided by the halfway point and never changed.

The subplot worth watching was Erin Almand's second half. Sitting 40th among women at 10K, she worked methodically through the field, cracking the top 25 by 31K and eventually finishing 17th among women — good for 5th in the age group. Her 10th-fastest women's split from 31K to the finish suggests she saved something for the back end, or simply found her legs later than most. Either way, she was the most relentless climber in the F35-39 field.