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We tested the best running watches out there to find which ones are the best of the best. Here’s how we did it and which ones you need on your wrist. Melissa Rorech, Reviewed.com

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They are the rock stars of the local running scene.

And like rock stars, they are spending the summer months touring the country and performing to the best of their ability. But instead of jamming guitars and extended drum solos, it’s hard running and racing, and record-breaking performances for fast friends Marisa Strange, Jeff Conston and Kevin Dollard.

The latest stop on their summer tour was Flint, Michigan, for the USATF Masters Road Mile Championships. As is her habit, the 56-year-old Strange set more records.

She placed third overall and first in the 55-59 division, setting an American road mile record for that age group, sprinting to a time of 5:27. A week earlier, the Pleasant Valley runner was fifth overall and first in the age-graded results at the USATF Masters 5-kilometer championships in Atlanta, where she ran 18:38.

“First and foremost, I was thrilled to break the American road mile record,’’ Strange said in a post-race text message. “I was also very pleased to be in the top three overall. Coming off of Atlanta the week before, I rested a lot before this race. I was pleased with Atlanta. For the first time in a while, I won age-graded. I was very surprised by that. I felt good in Michigan and felt grateful I could run what I thought I was capable of.’’

Age-graded times combine finishing performance with a racer’s age; the complex formula calculates who runs the fastest by comparison for their age — kind of a leveling of the playing field for all competitors.

Conston breaks 5:00 barrier

In Flint, Conston achieved his pre-race goal of a sub-5 minute time. He raced to a 4:58 and got third in the highly competitive 50-54 age division. For a miler, racing on the road adds challenges not seen on the track. The easy-to-follow metrics of track laps are lost on the roads, and adding in hills as well, it makes race strategy a little more difficult.

Conston puts a lot of thought into his race strategy. He said that the first quarter of the race can be key — too fast and it costs him in the last quarter, too slow and it’s tough to make up for lost time.

“I was able to get off to a good start, and after about 200 meters I found myself right behind two larger guys that were going the perfect pace for me, and thought to myself this couldn’t be better as I felt very little wind,’’ Conston said in a post-race text report. “Right before the first quarter mark there is an uphill grade for about 50 meters and I past the quarter right around 74 seconds, which was spot on.’’

At that point, he wasn’t focused on the competition as much as having the wind blocked by his competitors. After the halfway mark, with the wind no longer a factor, Conston said he picked up the pace and started picking off the competition. At the three-quarter mark, he realized that top-3 in his age group was a real possibility.

Conston accelerated on a gradual downhill stretch and got into some back-and-forth surging with other racers before settling for a hard-earned third-place finish and the excitement of the sub-5:00. 

“My training leading up to this race has been very consistent and was able to compete in all four New Paltz Summer Series races, racing hard in three of them, and still doing an additional track workout every week,’’ he said.

Dollard rebounds

Dollard placed seventh in the 60-64 division in 5:43, leading his Shore AC team by being the first man on the second-place team in the nation. For Dollard, the team aspect is supreme as he and his Shore AC mates have all but locked up the runner-up team position for the year.

“My race went well especially, considering I scratched a week earlier in Atlanta with my knee giving out in my warmup just before the race,’’ he said. “Just a freak thing but nothing serious so I rested during the week. It turned out fine for Flint.’’

“Fine” in this case was an eight-second improvement on his 2018 time! And as always, he was thrilled to be joined by his friends on the masters running circuit. Next on the “tour” for Dollard is Tulsa for the USATF 15km masters championships. 

Slinskey joins in the fun

Strange, Conston and Dollard had a special guest with them in Flint. In the “fish out of water” category is local running legend Mike Slinskey. Better known for his long-distance pursuits, Slinskey gutted through the Flint mile in 5:26 and got 16th place in the 50-54 division.

Slinskey has been running very hard for a very long time, and he remains a competitive age-group runner. He also is an inspirational coach, mentoring adults in the Grassroots club and school-age cross-country runners at Our Lady of Lourdes High School. And his early-morning Facebook posts are always inspiring. Here is a recent example:

“Good morning. When I talk to people about goals and working toward them, what I’m finding is, they don’t realize that fitness is a lifetime and not just six weeks. And that it’s not, let’s just go through the motions. It’s getting up at least five days a week, and work like there is no tomorrow. Your goals are yours. Go after them with determination. Enjoy the journey. Be better today than yesterday because coach Slinskey said you can.’’

Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club member Pete Colaizzo, the track coach at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, writes on running every week in Players. He can be reached at runhed246@hotmail.com. For more club information, go to www.mhrrc.org

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