Word quickly reached a lot of serious track people in January that Josh Izewski was one of only two American-born runners to be rated in Track and Field News’ U.S. top 15 end-of-year lists for both the marathon and half-marathon in 2024.
Ironically, the Doylestown native was one of the last to find out.
“I had no idea they even did rankings like that,” he responded to an email with humor.
Well, they do. And the numbers are pretty impressive.
In February, the 34-year-old Izewski finished eighth in the U.S. men’s Olympic Marathon Trials at Gainesville, Fla. in a sparkling time of 2:11.09. By year’s end, he was ranked 13th overall on the Track and Field News marathon list.
The numbers were even better for the half-marathon.
Izewski, who competes for Zap Endurance, ran a headline-grabbing time of 63:22 in the Houston Half-Marathon (18th overall) to finish ninth in the year-end United States rankings.
The only other American-born runner to double in the full and the half was Reed Fischer.
“It’s always interesting to see stuff like that, with all the runners who have run so well all year,” Izewski said in a telephone conversation. “To be able to finish and be ranked like that. . .it’s special.”
In addition to the aforementioned achievements, the Central Bucks High School and University of Florida graduate also ran his first New York City Marathon in November, although the tough course took its toll and his time was not what he wanted it to be.
The original plan was to run Australia’s Gold Coast Marathon in July but as soon as he landed in the Land Down Under, his health went down under – namely a case of COVID-19. That quickly put him out of commission.
“I flew all the way there and ended up spending 10 days in a hotel room,” he said. “Actually I was fairly sick. It (the latest wave of COVID) was quick but it just so happened while I was there.”
As if that didn’t throw enough of a wrench in his 2024 plans, Izewski sort of wrenched his lower back a few days before New York and that partially accounted for his somewhat disappointing 2:16.
Unfazed, Izewski got right back to it two-plus months later and he redeemed himself by finishing ninth in the Houston Marathon in a personal-record 2:10.54.
“I really wasn’t prepared to race by an means,” he said. “But I was lucky enough to walk away with a PR in that race. Can’t complain about that.”
Where did 2024 rank among his career-best years?
“Any time you end a year ranked among the best Americans and you ran your best times early in the year, it’s always a cool accomplishment,” he said. “But after the Trials, it was pretty up and down.”
Some of the challenges came off the track, too.
Hurricane Helene roared through North Carolina in October and did severe damage to a number of towns, including Blowing Rock where Izewski currently resides.
“My place was flooded,” he said. “I stayed with my parents in Pennsylvania while my place down there was getting fixed up.
“From mid-November until the end of the year, I did a major re-set. Re-examining a bunch of things, as far as strength work goes, physiotherapy, all the stuff. I learned a lot and used that moving forward. So 2024 was a year I took a lot of lessons from.”
Izewski now has his eye set on the Broad Street 10-Miler in May. If all goes according to plan, he should challenge for a spot somewhere among the top five or so.
Then it could be back to Gold Coast again.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve got some unfinished business there.”
>Martin runs blazing 3:48 mile
Archbishop Wood High School graduate Gary Martin, now a junior at the University of Virginia, set off some flashing lights with his performance at Saturday’s Wanamaker Mile in New York City.
Martin finished a brilliant fifth in the event, running a personal-record (by nearly six seconds!) 3:48.82 (previous best, 3:54.73). It’s the second-fastest time ever recorded for an indoor mile by an American collegiate runner on U.S. soil.
>Race calendar
Sunday
BCRR Winter Series Half-Marathon, 9 a.m., Tyler State Park, Newtown-Richboro. Contact www.bcrrclub.com
