Isaac Updike
To say 2022 has been a rough go physically and emotionally for steeplechaser Isaac Updike of Ketchikan is an understatement.
Two bouts of COV-19 not only caused him to scratch from his most important competition of the year – the U.S. nationals, which decided berths for the World Championships – but also prompted him to shut down his track season.
“2022 has not been kind to me,” Updike told David Melly on the latter’s “Run Your Mouth” podcast produced by Citius Magazine earlier this fall.
Still, Updike, 30, has been back logging his opening base training heading into the 2023 track season and has jumped into a couple road races to get back in the swing of things. Saturday, he finished 14th in the USATF 5-K Road Championships in New York City.
Running in a small elite field – there were 28 men’s finishers – Updike clocked 13 minutes, 54 seconds for 3.1 undulating miles.
“I’d say I was pretty happy with the time I ran today,’’ Updike texted. “I’m still in a base phase with training and haven’t touched anything specific (with speedwork), so to come out and feel decent off such a quick pace out of the gate was positive.’’
Updike said his intent Saturday was simply to get a feel for his fitness.
“I would have like to be in one of those top 10 spots,” Updike texted, “but there were a lot of fit guys out here and I don’t think I would have fared very well late in the race if I had gone out with the lead pack.”
Abdihamid Nur, in his road debut, won in 13:24, moving away from runner-up Hillary Bor (13:29) inside the final half-mile.
Updike’s 2022 track season started sharply when he won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the iconic Penn Relays in 8:22 in late April. That time was just five seconds off his personal best (8:17.74 in 2021) and a strong time so early in the season.
But his first bout of COVID in late May compromised his training and prompted him to pull out of nationals at literally the last hour before his preliminary heat. Then, Updike hoped to run some late-season steeplechases to salvage the season. Another bout of COVID in early July prompted his decision to scrap the rest of the track season.
“It kind of screwed up, essentially, everything that you’re building towards for the previous year,” Updike told Melly.
Updike, a Nike-sponsored athlete who lives in Flagstaff, Ariz., and is currently in New Paltz, N.Y., for a training camp with his Empire Elite team, returned to racing a month ago at the USATF 10-Mile Road Running Championships in Minneapolis. That distance is outside his customary range. Still, he clocked 48:37 to finish 29th out of 48 finishers.
Updike, who ran cross country and played soccer in high school in Ketchikan, walked on to the running program at NAIA Eastern Oregon University. Focusing entirely on running, he developed into an NAIA national champion in the steeplechase and earned six All-American honors.
Updike finished 12th in the steeplechase at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and fifth in the 2020 Olympic Trials. After missing much of the 2022 track season, he has two championship years approaching — 2023 is another World Championship year, this time in Budapest, Hungary, and the 2024 Olympics are set for Paris.