Frazer, Nedlo Swiftest at Chicago Half Marathon

I did run the Chicago Half on Sunday, so I got to see how far in front Thomas Frazer was after the turnaround. It was impressive. Frazer, 30, of Lake Forest, wanted to even go a little faster, but won easily in 1:07:12. The Irish native who ran for Butler University, has his eyes on the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, which he ran last year in 2:19:42. He is coached by Tom Houchin, is associated with Jenny Spangler Racing and wants to lower that PR. Winning woman on Sunday in cool, somewhat windy conditions was Meagan Nedlo, 29, of Salem, MA. She clocked 1:18:20. Back to the men, Scott Fraser (different spelling, not related), 26, of Edinburgh, Scotland, was second in 1:08:37, and Andy Derks, 32, of Aurora, a regular in local racing, was third in 1:10:09. Fourth-place male was Chris Vargo, 30, of Colorado Springs, CO, in 1:10:23, and fifth was taken by Matthew Field, 27, of Wheaton, in 1:10:29. Runner-up female was Kristen Heckert, 25, of Lisle, in 1:19:53, and third was Columba Montes, 33, of Chicago, in 1:21:13. Fourth went to Sydney Messick, 23, of St. Louis, MO, in 1:21:29, and fifth was taken with a 1:21:40 PR by Tammy Lifka, 42, of Glen Ellyn. Heckert, Montes and Lifka also are gearing for the Chicago Marathon. Dale Bowman has a nice wrap-up in today's Sun-Times. As of now, there were 12,105 finishers.