Megan Youngren of Soldotna wasn’t planning to run the 16th Kenai River Marathon, considering it was scheduled just eight days after a hard effort at the Equinox Marathon.
But after recovering quickly from the Equinox, Youngren jumped in and shattered the Kenai River Marathon women’s record in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 11 seconds. Christy Marvin of Palmer held the previous standard of 3:04 in 2018.
Youngren, left and Ochoa, right
Youngren also handily won the overall race as the men’s winner, Pedro Ochoa, finished in 3:10:29. Ochoa joined her for the first half this year, he couldn’t keep up with Youngren’s consistent pace. Youngren’s only previous KRM result was a 4:04 in 2018.
Youngren, who competed in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials and holds a personal best of 2:43, was one of four women to break the Equinox Marathon record on Sept. 18. She placed second to Anna Dalton of Anchorage in 3:11:57.
Next up for Youngren is the California International Marathon on Dec. 5. Youngren has a positive history with that race: it’s where she qualified for the Olympic Trials in 2019.
Youngren won’t be spontaneously jumping into any more long races the next couple months.
“Now it’s time to cool it, then get ready for CIM,” Youngren posted on Strava.