F45-49 at Run the Parkway: Berlier controls 20 miles in Folsom heat

• Jennifer Berlier won the F45-49 group in 2:41:52 (8:06/mi), finishing 16th among all women.
• Joy Toyias was runner-up in 2:44:44 — just 2:52 back — and held 15th among women through much of the race before fading late.
• Vanessa Pellon made the most dramatic move of the day, climbing from 46th to 32nd among women on her way to 3rd in F45-49 with a 2:54:28.
• Positions 8 and 9 — Blia Vang (3:15:00) and Sarah Fowler (3:15:24) — were separated by just 24 seconds across 20 miles.

With 74°F and broken clouds overhead in Folsom, the F45-49 group sent 35 women across the line, and Jennifer Berlier was the steadiest of them all. Running 8:06 per mile, she held 16th among women from the opening miles and never wavered — a performance built on consistency rather than drama. Her margin of victory, nearly three minutes over Joy Toyias, was decisive enough that the top spot was never really in question.

Toyias ran a sharp early race, sitting 15th among women through the Mile 4–Mile 10 stretch and posting the 18th-fastest women's split on that segment. But she couldn't hold the pace through the back half, sliding to 18th among women by the finish. Still, 2:44:44 at 8:14/mi was a strong effort for second place. Third went to Vanessa Pellon, who told a very different story: she was 46th among women at Mile 4 and kept climbing all the way to 32nd by the finish, capping it with the 27th-fastest women's split on the Mile 16-to-Finish stretch. That kind of patient, negative-split execution earned her the final podium spot at 2:54:28.

Further back, Julia Madsen ran the inverse of Pellon's race — starting 23rd among women and gradually drifting to 48th by the finish, landing 4th in F45-49 at 3:02:22. Syreeta Rampollo rounded out the top five in 3:04:09. And deep in the middle of the pack, Blia Vang and Sarah Fowler waged a quiet battle across all 20 miles, separated by just 24 seconds at the line — 8th and 9th in the age group, respectively.