Isaac Updike
Eight days after he delivered a personal best in the mile to become Alaska’s fastest runner at that iconic distance, Ketchikan’s Isaac Updike on Saturday posted another personal best to become the second-fastest Alaskan at 3,000 meters.
Updike, 31, clocked 7 minutes, 45.10 seconds at Boston University’s Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational to finish fourth and chop 2.83 seconds off his previous PB, which he ran in Boston four years ago.
On the same track on Jan. 26, Updike covered the mile in 3:55.17 to slash 3.09 seconds off his previous best and leapfrog Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar (3:55.54, 2017) as the fastest Alaska miler in history.
Updike entered Saturday as the No. 3 Alaskan in history over 3K and leapfrogged 1984 Olympian Don Clary of Anchorage (7:46.42, 1982) into the No. 2 all-time spot among Alaskans behind Dunbar (7:43.33, 2016).
Updike and Dunbar, who is retired from elite racing and works as an assistant coach at the University of Virginia, have long known each other. They lived in Eugene, Oregon, at the same time. And they occasionally run into each other at meets.
“My ambition is to remove his name from any and all track records before I’m through,’’ Updike said, laughing. “At least from the No. 1 position.’’
Updike said Saturday’s race was paced early on for a sub-7:42, which is the automatic qualifier to the U.S. indoor championships in two weeks. British pro George Mills, a 3:47 miler who ran a 12:58 5K at BU eight days previous, paced the race, which Updike competed in though he battled sickness earlier in the week and had twice traveled from his base in Flagstaff, Ariz., to Boston in a little more than a week.
“I think my A day was under 7:42,’’ Updike said. “I think I’m fit enough to run that. But I’m fighting (sickness) in the past week. Feeling like I’m not 100 percent and getting a PB is a good day.’’
Updike’s time Saturday won’t automatically qualify him for national indoors in Albuquerque, N.M., in two weeks, but he sits in good position to make the 3K field. Also, not every American who owns a faster 3K time than Updike is likely to declare to run at nationals.
Updike marveled at the 3K time Clary posted nearly 42 years ago, especially given the advances in training and nutrition across the decades, and the more recent advent of super shoes/spikes that allow athletes to race faster and recover quicker.
“It’s just another level,’’ Updike said, “because it feels like we have every biomechanical advantage right now.’’
Updike’s principal event is the 3,000-meter steeplechase. His PB of 8:17.47, run last June in Nice, France, makes him No. 1 all-time among Alaskans in the event run over barriers and a water jump. Updike, whose strength and athleticism is sharper than his pure speed, finished third in the steeple at outdoor nationals last summer to make his first Team USA squad and race in the World Championships, his first global (Olympics and Worlds) competition.