Tales From The Track: Ketchikan’s Isaac Updike isn’t a miler, yet Friday he became Alaska’s fastest miler

Isaac Updike

Issac Updike is a steeplechaser. That’s the 3,000-meter event – just shy of two miles — in which he finished third at the U.S. nationals last summer to bag his first Team USA honor and compete at the World Championships. He’s also the two-time defending steeple champ at the prestigious Penn Relays.

So, the 31-year-old from Ketchikan is not a miler. He’s only raced the mile or the 1,500 meters – the international distance raced much more frequently – a combined 13 times in the last decade.

Still, Updike just happens to be the fastest miler in Alaska history.

He seized that honor Friday at the John Thomas Terrier Classic on Boston University’s lightning-fast indoor track.

Updike finished sixth in his heat and overall, clocking a big personal-best time of 3 minutes, 55.17 seconds, which lopped a whopping 3.09 seconds off his previous best for the distance (3:58.26, 2021).

Updike’s time surpassed the previous Alaska record of Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar, who clocked 3:55.54 in 2017.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,’’ Updike said with a laugh a couple hours after Friday’s race. “I guess it doesn’t have to.’’

Alaska’s Fastest Mile

Updike said his college coach at Eastern Oregon, former Alaska state cross country champ Ben Welch of Wasilla, and his former college and pro teammate Hans Roelle of Anchorage each texted him to let him know he was Alaska’s mile king.

Updike is also the fastest steeplechaser in Alaska history, ranks No. 2 in the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters, and No. 3 over 3,000 meters.

Updike, who is sponsored by Under Armour and trains with the Dark Sky Distance team at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz., said he used Friday’s race, his 2024 opener, as a sharpening tool for a 3,000-meter race in Boston on Saturday, Feb. 3, again at BU. Next on his schedule after that is the 3K at the USATF Indoor Championships, Feb. 16-17 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Updike on Friday ran metronomic splits – his splits per 200 meters were all in the 29 seconds-plus range until he closed in 28.53. He said he kept a particularly close eye on miler Craig Engels, who is experienced and a strong tactician.

“I was focused more on racing,’’ Updike said. “I knew moves were coming and my goal was to cover every move until I couldn’t.’’

Engels (3:54.03) finished third behind Northern Arizona University’s Colin Sahlman (3:53.17) and Canadian pro Charles Philibort-Thiboutot (3:53.41).

Updike said nothing in his training indicated a big personal best loomed, though he noted his fall and winter training goal was to improve his top-end speed. He said he shut down his last hard workout before the race because of calf and hamstring cramps. Nonetheless, he delivered a fast time Friday.

“You never know,’’ he said, laughing again.

Updike said he is scheduled to return to Flagstaff on Saturday – he didn’t want to stay in the East, at sea level, for long – and head back to Boston on Thursday.