On a windy morning, it was racing as usual for Glen Mays.
After an earlier date with a dental surgeon, it was a mystery run for Leah Thorvilson.
Mays, 32, a regular runner-to-beat in the Toad Suck races, won his second straight 10K title Saturday morning in 32:52. It was the third 10K title overall for the Little Rock runner. He bested another perennial contender, John Pankey, by almost two minutes.
Thorvilson, 29, a former Arkansas-Little Rock cross country runner, was the top female finisher with a time of 36:30.
She was coming off root canal surgery Monday.
"At one point in the race, I started feeling badly and I didn't know if it was an allergic reaction to the penicillin or I was just getting tired," she said. "I kept waiting for another (female runner) to pass me. It was a hard race. I quit worrying about the time and it wasn't worth pushing things and risking injury."
Mays said he really started feeling the effects of the blustery and biting wind between the second and fourth mile.
"There are some open areas and some long straightaways at that point and you really had to fight the wind," he said. "But I'd still rather run in this than heat."
But the TSD 10K is a race he said he points to most every year.
"It's one of my favorites," said Mays, a native North Carolinian who works at UAMS in Little Rock. "There are not that many 10Ks in Arkansas now and this is one of the best. It's a very scenic course, especially when you go through some of the older parts of town."
The race attracted about 1,000 runners, slightly down from last year, according to Cliff Henry, who helps coordinate the race on behalf of the Conway Kiwanis Club.
Winning the male division of the 5K was Matthew Friant, 17, a sophomore at Conway High. He finished in 18:04.
"The toughest part for me was coming down the back stretch," said Friant, who was the first runner to re-enter John McConnell Stadium. "The wind hit me down the stretch and made it tough."
The female 5K winner was Katherine Bartley , 12, a seventh-grader at Mount Vernon-Enola.
She has to train for distance because Mount Vernon-Enola does not have a track team, only cross country.
