Rocket City Back Half — F35-39: Kenney Runs Down the Win at 6:48 Pace

• Corrie Kenney won the F35-39 group in 1:29:15 (6:48/mi), finishing 2nd among all women and posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-finish stretch.
• Natosha Crisco was right on her heels in 1:29:49 (6:51/mi) — just 34 seconds back — and held 3rd among all women with the 3rd-fastest women's closing split.
• The gap from 2nd to 3rd in the age group was 11 minutes and 17 seconds, making the top two a race entirely their own.
• Kelli Peck (2:04:11) and Britta Morrison (2:04:12) finished 14th and 15th — separated by a single second across 13.1 miles.

Huntsville in December delivered anything but December conditions — 70°F, 76% humidity, and a 17 mph wind made for a legitimately tough afternoon. That makes what Corrie Kenney and Natosha Crisco did at the front of the F35-39 field all the more striking. Kenney, 35, from Louisville, ran a composed 6:48-per-mile average and was never shaken from 2nd among all women from start to finish. Her closing stretch was the sharpest weapon in the field — only one woman in the entire women's race ran a faster 10K-to-finish split.

Crisco, 37, from Sherwood, Arkansas, matched her step for step in the standings, holding 3rd among all women throughout and owning the 3rd-fastest closing split in the women's race. A 34-second margin over 13.1 miles is a genuine battle, and both athletes were clearly racing each other as much as the clock. The rest of the F35-39 field never entered that conversation — Mallory Bader's 1:41:06 for third in the age group was a full eleven minutes behind.

Further back, the race had its own drama. Bader and Katie Gaston both moved up in the women's standings during the back half — Bader climbing from 11th to 10th among women, Gaston from 19th to 17th — while Brittany Parks slipped one spot, from 17th to 18th, suggesting she gave a little to the heat and wind late. And for Peck and Morrison, one second over a half marathon is about as close as it gets without sharing a finish line.