Ken Brooks of Portage, Mich., uses running as an excuse to travel, and Saturday morning he made his first trip to Tennessee a fast finish in the Scenic City Half Marathon.
The 29-year-old Brooks ran the 13.1 miles unoffically in 1 hour, 13 minutes, 24 seconds from Finley Stadium and back. That is a minute and a half faster than the previous best time since the race was renamed.
Chattanooga's Geno Phillips, 38, was second for the second year in a row. The 2009 Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon winner and 2002-05 winner of the Chattanooga Half Marathon finished in 1:16:56, and 2006 half marathon winner and three-time Chickamauga marathon winner Hugh Enicks, 50, was third and the masters winner in 1:18:09 with a state-record time for his age.
Two-time battlefield marathon winner Gina Krabbendam, 37, from Lookout Mountain breezed to the women's win Saturday and then went to her job at one of the eight charity beneficiaries of the race -- the McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center, where she's a veterinarian.
"I hadn't done a half marathon in a while. This was kind of new for me," said Krabbendam, hardly looking tired. "I was just out to run and do what I could do."
Phillips said he and Brooks were misdirected coming off the Veterans Bridge ramp after the race's short North Chattanooga stretch. Phillips said he thought he was supposed to "go straight" but was pointed to the left, only to figure out "20 or 30 seconds later" that he needed to go back.
But Brooks was well ahead already and Phillips admitted, "I wasn't going to get him."
The race started about 30 minutes late in the very chilly morning because of problems with the computer timing system, but Brooks was happy with his trip and the results. A friend who made the drive from Michigan with him also finished in the top five.
Asked if he had any problems, Brooks said, "Yeah, I got lost a couple of times. I had to stop and yell, 'Which way?' But that happens sometimes when you race."
He said he participated in about 30 races last year, ranging from 5 kilometers to the Boston and Chicago marathons -- and "got lost at least four or five times. I was disqualified twice."
Brooks, soon to graduate as a registered nurse, said he didn't have a background in competitive athletics and just began racing a couple of years ago, but he apparently has a natural affinity for running. He ran the Disney Half Marathon in January and said his Chattanooga win was a "tuneup" for a professional elite race in Illinois in May.
"I guess I started running just from being health conscious," he said, "and it's a good way to deal with stress and keep your mind healthy. It's something you can always do on your own, and it makes you push yourself."