USA's Kastor cruises to sub-2:20 win

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Deena Kastor finally discovered what it's like to finish a marathon without the 26.2 miles ending like a death march.

Kastor dominated Sunday's London Marathon, winning in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 36 seconds, breaking her U.S. record by 1:40 and becoming the first American woman and eighth woman overall to break the 2:20 barrier. It was the fourth-fastest time ever.

"She was on fire," said Mary Wittenberg, New York City Marathon director and an observer Sunday. "Total focus, total commitment to the win and the sub-2:20 despite the tough field behind her. To be honest, it was like they weren't even there."

Kastor's win, her second major in a row after U.S. women went 12 years without a major victory, was impressive and efficient. She pulled away from Kenya's Susan Chepkemei and Salina Kosgei after 19 miles. Russia's Ludmila Petrova was second (2:21:46) as five women broke 2:22.

For Kastor there was no dehydration as there was in the 2004 Olympic trials, where she was runner-up; no hot, humid weather as in the 2004 Olympics, where she was third; no late-race deterioration after a fast early pace as there was in her win at Chicago in October.

"The race was pretty smooth, which is why I have high hopes of coming off this easily," Kastor said. "It was such an evenly paced race that nothing crazy was done in the middle to have me suffering at all."

Kastor ran identical half-marathon splits of 1:09:48. "I had plans of a negative split," said Kastor, referring to a faster second half than first half. "With the conditions -- it was raining this morning -- and wanting to make sure I ran under 2:20, I tried to make it as even as possible."

Kastor has reached a stage at which her only competition for No.1 internationally might be world recordholder Paula Radcliffe of England. Radcliffe missed Sunday's race with injury. Despite the win and record, Kastor was mildly disappointed she didn't break 2:18 as she thought possible.

"I still feel I can run faster," she said, "but when I went to Chicago I risked falling part, which I did, at the expense of running an extraordinarily fast time. Here I just wanted to solidify running faster than 2:20.

"So I gave it a little more conservative approach to join the women under 2:20. My next race I can be on the more aggressive side now that I've accomplished that."

Kastor plans to take a three-week break and then get ready to run the 10,000 meters and possibly the 5,000 at June's U.S. track and field championships.

"I've been hitting the marathon and marathon training pretty hard the last few years," Kastor said. "It's taken a lot out of me, just in terms of the number of miles I've logged the past few years. I definitely want to give my legs a break, a well-deserved rest, and lower my mileage to under 100 a week to work on getting faster."

The track season is part of the preparation for a fall marathon. Her plans call for New York, Chicago or Berlin, all part of the World Marathon Majors, a new series that Kastor now leads and that could be worth $500,000 to her in 18 months.

"I definitely feel I need to increase my speed a little bit before I move forward in the marathon," Kastor said.

At 33, Kastor keeps getting better, a trend she and her coach, Terrence Mahon, think can continue. "She's just getting stronger and stronger," Mahon said. "I know this isn't the top. The 2008 Olympics are still the big picture. I don't think she'll come into that on the downside. Hopefully, she'll be right at the top."

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