Team Mizuno Texas' Jose Munoz Wins 5th Annual San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

by Bob "Wish" Wischnia on November 12, 2012

Team Mizuno Texas' Jose Munoz--Central Texas won the fifth annual San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on Sunday in a time of 2:27:53. Munoz, a 27-year-old resident of San Antonio, was using the marathon as a training experiment. After setting a PR of 2:23 at the Chicago Marathon four weeks ago, Munoz and his coach decided on a different tactic for San Antonio.

A notorious front runner, Munoz's coach wanted to see if he could run a negative split in San Antonio by going out much slower than he normally would. With Houston as his target marathon, Munoz was instructed to go out no faster than 1:12 for the first half. Although he was a little off, Munoz still went through the first 13.1 miles in a relatively easy 1:11:21 but still trailed early leader Abraham Rutto of Kenya.

 But at about the 17-mile mark, Munoz blew by the Kenyan and never looked back. "When I went by Rutto, I told him to run with me," said Munoz afterward. "But he said 'No man, you're too strong.' So I figured the race is mine."

Although Munoz didn't exactly run a negative split--his second half was five minutes slower in the warm, humid conditions--but his patience proved decisive as he won his biggest marathon to date.