Taking advantage of chilly temperatures and a flat, fast course, Sara Hall and Keira D'Amato both bettered American records Sunday at the Houston Marathon.
Hall, 38, lopped more than a minute off her previous lifetime best in the half marathon, clocking 67:15 to take down the existing AR of 67:25 that was set by Molly Huddle at Houston in 2018. She went through the first 5K in 16:03, 48 seconds behind the leader and eventual winner, Vicoty Chepngeno of Kenya, and hit 10K at 31:54. Hall and three other women passed 15K in 47:51 and over the next 5K, Hall upped her tempo to hit 20K in 63:52. She finished second behind Chepngeno's 65:03 and was 17 seconds in front of the third-place finisher.
Coming into the race, the 37-year-old D'Amato had a personal best of 2:22:56 from 2020. She was at the front of the pack from the start, passing 10K in 32:45 and hitting the halfway mark in 69:40. At 30K, D'Amato had an almost unassailable lead, going past in 1:39:14, 2:18 in front of the next challenger. She continued to stretch her lead over the final 10K and crossed the finish line in 2:19:12 to knock 24 seconds off the previous AR, set by Deena Kastor in winning at London in 2006, and win by almost 10 minutes. All records are pending ratification.