Chris Compston in Erie.
Amy Compston in Erie.
ERIE, Pa. – A marathon season of marathons continued Sunday for Amy For Africa runners Amy and Chris Compston.
The husband-wife duo conquered the pancake-flat Erie Marathon on a perfect day for running. This is the sixth marathon of the running season for Amy, who began the journey in April with the Boston Marathon. She has two to go – Chicago Marathon in October and the New York City Marathon in November.
Her husband, Chris, was running his fifth marathon in the last five months, setting a PR with a time of 3:55.57. His marathon season ends with the Chicago Marathon.
“We thank God for giving us a safe run today and allowing us to do our best,” Amy said. “Chris set a PR so there’s no complaining about that. I’m so proud of how he’s done.”
Only two weeks ago Amy was in Moyo, Uganda, with a bacterial infection that had her flat on her back. “The Lord kept healing me day by day,” she said. “It’s through Him that we were able to do what we could today. I praise Him for His healing power.”
Chris was working on an even stronger time until cramps started hitting him after 20 miles. But the PR was still good. “I thought I was going to have a better time,” he said. “The cramps got me.”
Amy shaved a few minutes off her recent marathon times with a run of 3:31:57, good enough for 44th out of 460 women competing. She was 16 out of 70 in her age group and 262nd overall out of 956 marathoners.
Erie had some of the best runners in the United States competing, including 38-year-old Laura Kaulen who qualified for the US. Olympic marathon trails with an Erie course record run of 2 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds.
The sub-2:43 time will send Kaulen to the marathon trial in Los Angeles on Feb. 13, 2016 in Los Angeles. The winner of that race earns a spot on the Summer Olympic team later that year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Kaulen’s PR prior to Erie was 2:46. She is a former track and cross country athlete at Youngstown State.
Amazingly, her time placed Kaulen third overall on Sunday. Two male entrants – Mike Aldrink (2:33.29) of Powell, Ohio, and Dino Montagna (2:40:09) of Manassas, Va. – finished ahead of her.
Aldink, 37, won the Erie Marathon for the third time. He is a stay-at-home father whose previous wins at Presque Isle were in 2006 and 2012.