May 17—ROCHESTER — The first female finisher of the 30th Med City Marathon is nearly 5,000 miles from home.
Miriam Sader, a native of Brixen, Italy, located in the northern part of the country, finished the race in just fewer than three hours, clocking in at an outstanding 2 hours, 55 minutes, 4 seconds.
Sader, 23, is a medical student studying in Salzburg, Austria, but is currently in Rochester for a short time with seven of her friends.
“We are all medical students, all studying in Austria at the same university, and we’re here for a four-month-long research trimester at Mayo Clinic,” Sader said. “We all like sports and running, and so we decided to all participate together, most of our group, not all, the other ones were cheering.”
Sader was the first woman to complete the race on Sunday and placed 14th overall. Michael Walentiny, 38, of Lewiston, Minn., was the overall marathon winner at 2:33:05, finishing 2 minutes, 15 seconds ahead of former Pro Motocross champion Jeremy Martin of Rochester, who came in second.
Rochester gave Sader a warm welcome and plenty of support as she ran.
“The people were so amazing, cheering, and they gave me a lot of power on the course, and I think the conditions were also great,” she said. “It’s not hot, it’s not cold, it’s not raining and the wind (helped).”
Sader ran her first marathon in Munich, Germany, two years ago. She was first in her age group and came in 11th place overall. Her specialty is triathlons.
“I do biking mostly, but also some swimming, and running also, but not like marathons specifically,” Sader said. “I’ve run my whole life. I’ve always been a very active child, just like endurance sports generally.”
Due to shin splints, Sader said she wasn’t able to train much for the Med City Marathon, but it didn’t seem to matter much.
“I actually run just about one time a week,” Sader said. “I usually go in the morning, and it works out quite well.”
Luckily for her, Sader’s injury gave her little trouble on Sunday, even achieving a personal best. Once she finished the race, she rang the personal best bell to celebrate.
“I really wanted to try to be sub-three (hours), but as my training was really not on point within the last month, I did not really think it would be possible, but today I went all in,” Sader said.
Sader’s father is also a runner and an Ironman triathlete who once completed a marathon with a time of approximately 2 hours, 58 minutes, so she said it was her goal to finish faster.
“I will have to call him and talk to him about it,” she said.
As for her future, Sader plans to do an Ironman triathlon next fall back home in Sanremo, Italy. For now, she plans to enjoy her achievement and sub-three-hour finish.
“I really like triathlon more because you have like three disciplines, you can do more stuff, but I will definitely do another marathon, too.”
Walentiny has run the Med City Marathon eight times and has now won it twice. His first win was in 2022, timing in at 2:39.46. He has also finished as runner-up four times.
When Walentiny ran the race four years ago, a thunderstorm hit just more than halfway through. There were no storms this time around, just a few light sprinkles. It was a cool, breezy day, which the winners agreed was ideal for running.
“I think running any marathon is really cool,” Walentiny said. “So, anytime I get to win, it’s fun. It’s fun to be out running. It’s fun when the weather’s nice, but the 30th is really special. Obviously, only one person gets to win a 30th marathon, so it’s really cool.”
Running 70 miles a week year-round, Walentiny said the training never really stops.
After competing in about 55 marathons throughout his life, including three in the past calendar year, Walentiny keeps coming back to the Med City.
“I run this course a bunch, but the weather this year was better than any other I’ve ever run it,” he said. “It always seems like it’s hotter, but today it was nice and cool, and the wind was very helpful this year. I feel like every other year it’s been a pain in the butt, but I mean, the weather was great. The course changed a couple years ago — instead of a giant hill, now it’s kind of a gradual hill. I prefer that, it’s a lot better, so I really like the course.”
Walentiny, a business production manager and native of Elk River, Minn., has lived in the southeastern part of the state for 20 years. Walentiny is a lifelong athlete, but wasn’t always a runner.
“I used to play tackle football with my friends, and that really hurt a lot, and so I figured distance running would be less painful and it is,” Walentiny said. “I’ve never been really a sprinter, and so the distance running kind of made sense. I remember when I was a kid, I would play sports longer than anybody else, and so running long distance just made sense.”
Med City Marathon full results