Rock ‘n’ Roll: Olympians and Weekend Warriors Lace-Up for 15th Annual Race

About 30,000 runners that hit the pavement for Sunday's 15th Annual Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and Half-Marathon.

The race, which included a half marathon, marathon, CareFusion two-person relay and wheelchair divisions of each type of marathon, included some Olympic-sized runners.

Four elite runners who have qualified for the summer London games participated in Sunday's half-marathon.

US Olympian Meb Keflezighi won the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Half Marathon in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 11 seconds on Sunday morning—beating fellow US Olympian Ryan Hall, who finished in 1:05:39. Costa Rican Olympian Cesar Lizano finished third at 01:07:28. 

“I love this course,” said Keflezighi, who is a San Diego High School graduate and still lives in the city. “This is the only opportunity you have to come down the [state route] one-sixty-three, pass on the shoulder, and not get a ticket.”

New Zealand Olympian Kim Smith won the women's half marathon in one hour, 8 minutes, and 37 seconds, a time that would have earned her seventh place among the men.

“You’ve got to beat as many men as you can,” Smith joked. “I was targeting Ryan but I didn’t get there. Maybe next time.”

Dan Cruz, who's part of the race's organizer, Competitor Group, said these athletes ran the 13.1 miles as a "tune-up," for the summer games.

Nixon Machichim of Kenya won the marathon, breaking the tape at 02:10:03, and Alevtina Ivanova of Russia won it for the women at 02:27:44.  They’ll each take home $25,000. Scott Parson of San Jose was the chairs marathon winner, with a finish time of 01:40:09—and Sandi Rush of Fallbrook was the fastest woman to finish the chairs marathon, crossing the finish line at 02:32:24. Both of them get $1,000 in prize money.

The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon course ran from Balboa Park through downtown and back up to Mission Valley and Mission Bay, finishing at SeaWorld San Diego. Check out Patch's photo gallery of the miles of fun. If you were at the race and took photos, add them to our gallery.

Congratulations to all who raced and crossed the finish line!

–City News Service contributed to this story.

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