M40-44 Half Marathon: Charles Li Runs Down the Field

• Charles Li wins in 1:26:00 (6:34/mi), the fastest finish in M40-44 across 319 finishers — and posted the 16th-fastest split in the field on the 10.5M–12M stretch.
• João Paulo Vasconcellos ran the 10th-fastest split in the field on the 8M–9.6M segment, a surge that helped him hold 2nd in 1:28:32 — 2:32 behind Li.
• Ben Davis rounded out the podium in 1:30:15, while Jamie Conlin (1:31:28) and Mark Eisenman (1:33:39) completed a top five spread across nearly eight minutes.
• The top 20 ranged from Li's 6:34/mi down to Michael Schmitz's 7:60/mi — a field with genuine depth and clear separation between tiers.

Charles Li, 40, from Oakland, ran the kind of race that gets better as it goes. His gender-place trajectory tells the story: he moved from 33rd among men at the opening checkpoint all the way to 20th by the finish, picking off competitors steadily throughout. The decisive moment came late — his 16th-fastest split in the field on the 10.5M-to-12M stretch showed he still had something left when others were grinding through San Francisco's wind and humidity.

João Paulo Vasconcellos made his own move in the middle miles. The Palo Alto 43-year-old turned in the 10th-fastest split in the field on the 8M–9.6M segment, climbing from 61st among men at that checkpoint all the way to 30th at the finish. He crossed in 1:28:32 at a 6:45/mi clip — a clear step slower than Li's pace, but a strong enough surge to lock up second place comfortably. Ben Davis (1:30:15, 6:53/mi) was the other mover worth watching: he jumped from 63rd among men early to 46th at the line, posting the 27th-fastest split in the field on the 10M–10.5M segment along the way.

Mark Eisenman's race ran in the opposite direction. The Chicago 41-year-old went out fast enough to sit 50th among men early, but faded to 72nd by the finish — his 7:09/mi average reflecting a tougher second half. Jonathan Saviet (6th, 1:34:40) and Greg Fallet (7th, 1:35:43) separated themselves from the chase pack behind, with 13 more finishers between 1:37 and 1:44 rounding out the listed field. All 319 of them earned it on a breezy, humid morning in the city.