Scherf carries American hopes and does it her own unique way

An hour into the race the general consensus among the experts was she would end up broken down on the side of Kalanianaole Highway.

Done. Way before the finish line.

Two hours in, Honolulu Marathon officials were reassessing, checking to make sure they still had an American flag somewhere.

It looked like she might win.

Lindsey Scherf, a native New Yorker who now lives and trains in Singapore and a surprise late entrant to this year’s race, finished second among the women. She became the first American to take a place on the podium since Stephanie Rothstein-Bruce was third in 2012.

Scherf hung with the eventual winner, Brigid Kosgei, until mile 19. She didn’t hit the wall. It was more a case of Kosgei pulling away than Scherf dying, and she finished in 2:34:05.

Scherf achieved this despite declining to ingest water, or anything else, until late in the race.

Maybe I’d missed some new racing trend. I mean, everything I’ve ever heard about running long distances is that it requires fuel, in the form of water, sports drinks, protein gel … heck, stopping at Starbucks for one of those chestnut-praline-fruitcake lattes would probably be preferable to going cold turkey for the entire first half of a marathon.

But nothing passed Scherf’s lips until the 14th mile when she finally took a drink of water.

Isn’t that pretty unorthodox?

“It borders on bizarre,” answered marathon spokesman David Monti, who follows the sport as closely as anyone. “But Lindsey is unique.”

She certainly is.

Scherf is a world class runner who just won a half marathon a week ago, in record-setting fashion. She wasn’t among the invited elites for Honolulu, but decided to compete here anyway.

Officials found out she’d be here early enough to get her a single-digit bib number (F6). And given her fine effort in the race, her travel expenses will be covered.

“I exceeded my expectations,” Scherf said. “My realistic goal was top 5. My ambitious goal was top 3. … I ignored the other ladies and ran my own race. To be honest, I didn’t think I had a prayer of winning when I saw all those (personal records).”

Some drivers have that great sense for knowing how long they can run their car on fumes with the gas gauge on “E.” Some learn the limits the hard way.

Scherf, at least on this day, fell into the former category. She claims a method to what is considered madness by conventional competitors.

“My plan was to listen to my body but take at least one (drink) 80 minutes in,” she said. “That’s what I did, and I topped it off with a few more sips (later). … I’m really good at not overheating. In Singapore I’m used to upper 80s and 90s, so 60s felt comfortable.”

As it did for Lawrence Cherono and Wilson Chebet, who both bested Jimmy Muindi’s 12-year-old course record.

This course will never be ideal for fast marathon times. The humidity and hills at the end make sure of that. But conditions were described as “perfect” … for Honolulu. Cherono used the word “conducive.”

His victory signaled a 10th consecutive win here by Kenyan men, and Kosgei is the third Kenyan woman champion in a row.

The last (native born) American to win at Honolulu was Cindy Welte in 1988. For the men, you have to go all the way back to 1982, when David Gordon crossed first.

World-class runners certainly added prestige to the event. And Cherono’s record time of 2:09:39 is one of the best marathon marks in the world this year, and it was achieved on one of the toughest courses.

But finally having an American in contention to win after so many years was just as intriguing, if not more, for many.

Hopefully Scherf is back again in 2017, armed with the course knowledge she attained in her Honolulu debut Sunday. It would be fun to see what happens if she takes serious aim at ending the championship drought for her countrymen and women here.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.