Rocket City Half Marathon F55-59: Dahir Dominates in the Cold

• Kathryn Dahir wins in 1:36:20 (7:21/mi), a commanding 13-minute gap over 2nd place — and a massive improvement from her 1:42:58 here in 2023.
• Teresa Berlin's strong second half: she moved from 58th to 45th among women on the 6.8M→Finish leg, running the 44th-fastest women's split on that stretch to overtake Jill Pompi for 2nd in the F55-59 field.
• Julie Campbell faded late: she entered the final stretch 48th among women and slipped to 56th, running the 79th-fastest women's split on that leg to fall to 4th.
• 57 women finished in the F55-59 age group, with the top 20 ranging from 1:36:20 to 2:30:05.

Twenty-nine degrees, a 16 mph wind, and clear skies greeted Huntsville on race morning — conditions that made Kathryn Dahir's 1:36:20 all the more impressive. The Nashville 58-year-old was never truly challenged, running 7:21/mi from start to finish and posting the 16th-fastest women's split in the field on the back half of the course. She also moved from 16th to 15th among all women in that final stretch — a sign she was still pressing when others were battling the cold.

What makes Dahir's win even sharper is the context she provides herself: she ran this same race in 2023 and finished 9th among women in 1:42:58. On Sunday she took the F55-59 title more than six minutes faster. That's not a small refinement — that's a different race.

Behind her, the battle for 2nd was settled by the second half. Jill Pompi of Adams, MA crossed in 1:49:35 (8:22/mi) for 2nd, but Teresa Berlin of Prospect, TN made her work for it. Berlin — who was 58th among women at the 6.8-mile mark — ran the 44th-fastest women's split on the back half to finish in 1:50:09 (8:24/mi) and claim 3rd. A 34-second margin separated them at the line, but Berlin was clearly the faster runner in the closing miles. The catch-up fell just short. Julie Campbell (1:51:46, 8:32/mi) rounded out the top four, though she faded from 48th to 56th among women over that same stretch, surrendering ground to both Berlin and Pompi in the cold.