2016 El Paso Marathon: Runners welcome new course

gathered this morning for the 8th annual 2016 el paso marathon and half marathon! the full marathon started in east el paso and finished downtown at the ballpark. and the half marathon ran its course through downtown. some participants were first timers, others–veterans. runners tell abc-7 the course was grueling and fun. we caught the women’s marathon winner and she says, she’s glad its over: “you cant ask a person afte they ran a marathon if they want to do another one, ask me in a couple of days. “whistle, girls pushing eac other” than usual today. that’s because runners from all over the nation ran in the ninth el paso marathon. 23- hundred runners took part in all 3 races which is about the same number as last year. and the runners are off! the starting line was changed this year due to all the ongoing construction…so the runners started near joe battle boulevard. and here is miguel perez– the first male to cross the finish line for the full marathon at southwest university park. perez finished with a final time of 2 hours–47 minutes and 11 seconds. while lauren reasoner was the first female to cross the finish line for the marathon with a time of 3 hours 15 minutes and 14 seconds. that’s a looota miles on those sneakers..but well worth it. “its a good day i mean it was a nice weather first half….but it was good i cant complain.” “it was reall well organized the volunteers were amazing, the course was amazing, it was great. there was some hills…i enjoyed it.” the final round of the northern trust open … and it was a wild finish.