Road weary?
Jake Walker just wasn't feeling it in Saturday's Butler Road Race.
We should all be so lucky.
Walker, the two-time defending champion in the 5-Mile race, knew from the outset he wasn't going to have a great race. And it didn't matter.
The 21-year-old from Ellwood City cruised to his third consecutive victory, winning with a time of 25 minutes, 4 seconds, well ahead of Jake Kildoo, 15, of Grove City, who was runner-up at 26:39.
"I didn't feel good at all," said Walker, who set the course record in the previous two years (24:34 in 2007, 24:32 in 2008). "I backed it down the last half of the race.
"I'd rather have the competition, but today, I'm kind of glad I didn't ... That's fine. I figured I would use this as a training run," Walker added.
Walker, a senior who runs at Notre Dame, has been targeting his hometown race, the Ellwood City 10K, which will be held this weekend.
Walker, who placed fourth in the 10K at the Big East Championships this past track and field season, definitely has enjoyed his success on the course, which runs through Alameda Road off West Penn Street. Walker also won the race back in 2004 as a 16-year-old.
Walker feels he's in the best of shape right now, even setting a course record at the Dayspring 5K in Ellwood City two weeks ago.
"Today was a question mark," said Walker. "I was thinking I'd be in the low 24s. I got out in the first mile and then I just coasted."
Cam Stauffer, 18, of Harmony (27:43), Clint Orloski, 22, of Butler (28:03) and Al Casgranda, 45, of Lower Burrell (28:14) rounded out the top five placewinners.
On the women's side, a new cast of runners took over the top spots as Slippery Rock University second-year graduate student Nicole Blaesser, 24, easily outdistanced Tasha Wheatley, 23, of Saltsburg.
Blaesser won with a course-record time of 29:04 while Wheatley was second at 30:41.
Blaesser broke the record of 29:43, which was held by Tammy Slusser, who had won the six of the past seven races plus three more in the mid-1980s when the race was a 10K.
Veronica Bujdos, 15, of Indiana (31:02), Bethany Walker, 19, of Ellwood City (31:05) and Gillian Nordquist, 22, of Clarkston, Mich. (31:25) finished third through fifth place, respectively.
Also, Slusser, 44, of Monroeville finished sixth (32:01) ahead of 2007 winner Halsey Sinclair, 20, of Silver Spring, Md. (32:26) and her sister, Ashlin (33:19).
"I didn't know it was a course record," said Blaesser, of Oxford, who ran at Oxford High near West Chester, then ran at Indiana (Pa.) University. "I just came out for fun and I felt pretty good. The hill was tough."
Since arriving at SRU, Blaesser, who finished 10th overall, had heard of the race, but decided this year to give it a try.
Another product of Ellwood City, Lou Lodovico, 85, finished with a time of 45:38, setting his third national age-group record on the 5-mile course. Lodovico also holds national records as a 73- and 79-year-old.
Distance Running Magazine has him ranked No. 1 in the world in the men's 80-84 age group.
Not to be outdone, Margretta Lutz, 80, of Saxonburg, who had been the No. 3-ranked female in the 75-79 division, is now ranked No. 1 since she turned 80 years old.
