Jordan Hasay Races for the First Time Since the Olympic Trials

Jordan Hasay, America’s second-fastest female marathoner, raced a half marathon on Monday on a deserted course outside of Eugene, Oregon. She finished in 1:14:27, averaging 5:41 per mile.

Paced by Eric Finan and Craig Leon, Hasay, 29, struggled in the cold temperatures—it was about 43 degrees when the race went off at 2 p.m. PST. With neither cheering fans nor competition from other women, she was several minutes off the time (1:10) she had hoped to run.

“I was just chilly,” she said. “My breathing feels good. I feel like I could have gone the marathon, so that was good, I just don’t have the half marathon turnover now. I was hoping that it would be there.”

This sanctioned race was a tuneup for the Valencia Marathon in Spain on December 6, which Hasay is planning to run—that is, assuming the worldwide increase in COVID-19 cases doesn’t scuttle the race.

Hasay said her marathon training has been “going really well.” She said she’s healthy, and she’s running less mileage than she has in the past—about 90 miles per week—relying on cross-training to avoid the injuries that have plagued her in recent years.

After running 2:20:57 at the Chicago Marathon in 2017 to move to No. 2 on the U.S. list of marathoners (behind American record-holder Deena Kastor), Hasay missed all of 2018 due to fractures in her heel. In the spring of 2019, she finished third at the Boston Marathon, but later that year, she dropped out of Chicago with a hamstring pull in the race’s early miles.

By the Olympic Marathon Trials in February, Hasay still wasn’t at full strength, and she struggled to a 26th-place finish in 2:37:57.

Hasay, who lives in San Luis Obispo, California, is coached remotely by British marathoner Paula Radcliffe, and she said they planned to discuss her race. “Usually when I have a rust-buster half, my training starts to pick up,” she said. “I still have a month to go to the marathon.”

Hasay said she was happy to have the chance to travel to a race and touched by the effort the Eugene Marathon put forward in hosting the event just for her.

“I’m just so thankful for the opportunity,” she said. “The pacers were super awesome. It makes you just appreciate the sport, everyone taking their Monday to come out and do this.”

This was the third time since the beginning of the pandemic that the Eugene Marathon organizers have hosted elite athletes in need of racing opportunities at this half marathon course in the woods, 40 minutes southeast of Eugene.

Sara Hall ran the course in August, setting a half marathon PR. Galen Rupp ran it on October 30, trying for an American record in the half marathon. He finished in 60:22, missing the record, but setting a 10-mile record en route. Japanese marathon great Suguru Osako ran the same event, finishing in 1:01:15.