What do you do when you’re a runner and your older brother finishes eighth in the United States Olympic Team Marathon Trials to gain national attention?
You forge your own path, that’s what.
While Yardley’s Alex Izewski fully supports his brother Josh’s quest to be one of the best endurance athletes in the country, he has goals of his own.
That was evident in the Bucks County Roadrunners Club’s Winter Series opening event, the Covered Bridge 5K, two Sundays ago.
Alex covered the hilly course at Tyler State Park in a speedy 17:11, taking first place by more than a minute.
Not bad for a guy who was hit by a car while riding an electric scooter in 2022 and winding up in the hospital with a broken leg.
Like his brother, Alex ran for both Central Bucks East High School and the University of Florida.
But when the Gators changed coaches, Alex changed universities, heading north to complete his studies at Temple.
This might have been the first sign, accidental or not, that Alex was going to blaze his own trail.
Now 31, Alex has found that happy balance between working with and supporting his brother – he was at Orlando, Florida back on Feb. 3 when Josh ran a stunning 2:11.09 to miss the third qualifying spot by just 72 seconds – and doing his own thing.
It might be tough at times when a sibling is so famous but Alex has learned to live with it.
“I’m so used to it so long from high school, coming up behind him,” Alex explained in a telephone interview. “College, I had kind of a different path in a way because although I followed him to the University of Florida, I went through a coaching change my freshman year.
“Ultimately I transferred and finished my college back up here at Temple. I had kind of a little ‘go out on my own’ you could say. Create my own version of myself.”
At the end of the day, it’s a healthy environment, one which the family fully supports.
“I welcome the comparison,” Alex said. “Like I said, I’m used to it at this point. Now it’s a little bit different. Josh (who is 34) is obviously in the pro field, so I just enjoy it because I’m proud of what he’s accomplished.
“I get to say, ‘he’s my brother’.”
Alex has a full-time job (private equity real estate)
so his running has to be kept in perspective. His wife, Erika, is also a runner and that makes the training side of it much easier.
Still, he wants to be the best he can be. When he isn’t involved in his profession, which involves investment in veterinary real estate across the country, you can probably find him cranking out some serious mileage on the Delaware River canal path.
“It’s been a great learning experience,” he said. “I love what I do.”
Alex put together a pretty strong resume at CBE. He finished ninth in state cross-country his senior year. His personal bests were 15:31 for 5K and 4:18 for the 1,600 meters.
Josh and Alex had a chance to run together on the UF team for one year.
By his senior year at Temple, Alex was on full scholarship. He ran 14:39 for 5K and 29:58 for 10K.
After graduation, he continued to run at a high level for about a year, then took a break for a few years. The COVID situation changed everyone’s environment for a while. When it began to wind down, Alex was ready to jump back into running again.
“Josh made me run a marathon,” Alex said with a laugh. “I signed up for Philly in 2021. I was a little overweight for not running for so long. Only about seven weeks of training going into that marathon. Just found out about the last six miles of that race. I ran 2:44. Not something I think I’m capable of.”
He was ready to make a big improvement on that time in 2022 when disaster struck.
While riding the aforementioned electric scooter on a Philadelphia street, a car made a questionable turn and struck him full-on. Izewski wound up in the hospital for a lengthy stay after suffering a compound fracture of his right tibia.
“I was in the bike lane, he was making a turn and never saw me,” Alex recalled. “He hit me, I flipped over, landed on the ground, tried to stand up, couldn’t, looked down at my leg, saw it was crooked and said, ‘that’s not good.’ They kept me in the hospital for four days because the bone had broken through the skin and they wanted to make sure there was no infection.”
He spent a lot of 2023 in rehab. Thankfully, the recovery was complete.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “Every thought goes through your mind. Finally I was able to get back to somewhat normal running in September of ’23. I was out of normal training for about 11 months.”
Judging by that 17-minute effort at Tyler, all systems appear to be go.
He did not have a good day at this year’s Philadelphia Marathon but he looks to bounce back in 2025.
“I’m looking forward to running another marathon,” he said. “I was able to do 90-mile training weeks. I want to get kind of a benchmark time and then go forward.”
Plus, he has that Olympic Trials time of his brother to serve as inspiration.
“We were all there (at Orlando). . .our parents, me and my wife, we were down there,” Alex said. “I think I was the most calm. At 18 (miles) I said, ‘this is where the race starts.’ He’s fine.”
Josh moved up 17, 18 spots. Alex is hoping to use that performance as inspiration.
On his own blueprint, of course.
>Race calendar
Wednesday, Jan. 1
Bucks County Roadrunners Club Winter Series Cham-Pain 5K, 11 a.m., Tyler State Park, Newtown-Richboro. Contact www.bcrrclub.com
