M40-44 Half Marathon: Baiji He Runs Away With It in Folsom

• Baiji He won the M40-44 group in 1:34:57 (7:15/mi), more than five and a half minutes clear of second place.
• Michael Lawrence (1:40:23) and Michael Simmons (1:43:13) filled out the podium, separated by 2:50.
• Seventh and eighth place — Yia Her (2:12:42) and Bryan Goodrich (2:12:54) — were separated by just 12 seconds after more than two hours of racing.
• Eleven men finished across a spread of over 1:10:00 from first to last.

Baiji He, 44, made the M40-44 race look straightforward from the gun. Running 7:15 per mile on a warm November morning — 74°F with humidity nudging 60% — he was never seriously threatened, building a lead that held comfortably through every checkpoint. His margin of 5:26 over second place was the kind of gap that turns a race into a time trial, and he was strong enough through the middle miles (Mile 4 to Mile 10) to post one of the faster splits in the men's field on that stretch.

Behind him, Michael Lawrence (43, Sacramento) ran a composed 1:40:23 to claim second, and Michael Simmons (41, Sacramento) was steady at 1:43:13 for third. Lawrence showed his best legs late, posting a strong Mile 10-to-Finish split among the men's field. Andrey Furmuzan (40, Folsom) was the local entry in fourth at 1:46:59, with Won Lee rounding out the top five in 1:53:15 — a gap of nearly six and a half minutes back to fifth from the win.

The most compelling battle of the afternoon played out far down the leaderboard. Yia Her and Bryan Goodrich were locked together for the better part of 13.1 miles, with Her holding on for seventh in 2:12:42 and Goodrich crossing twelfth seconds later in 2:12:54. Victor Salazar (44, Stockton) closed out the M40-44 field in 2:45:33, completing a group that spanned more than 70 minutes of racing — a reminder that this age group brings every kind of runner to the start line.