Results/Photos

Date: Feb. 14, 2026 Participant: Grace Benson #10959 Race: 2026 Mesa Marathon Distance: 26.2 miles

Grace Benson Shows Consistency and Progress Grace maintained a steady pace in the 2026 Mesa Marathon, finishing with an overall time of 3:17:38 and an impressive average pace of 7:32 min/mile over the 26.2-mile course. Her split times demonstrated consistent effort, staying close to the seven-and-a-half-minute mark. Notably, splits from mile 11 and mile 26 were strong at 7:20 and 7:37 min/mile, respectively. Grace managed to secure the 17th spot in her age division (F25-29) out of a total of 91 participants in that category and was 71st among female participants overall. Her improvement is evident when compared to her previous marathon performance in 2024, where her pace was 8:43 min/mile, and she completed in 3:48:37. This highlights a significant advancement in her endurance and race strategy. To build on this achievement, focusing on maintaining pace consistency across all splits could be advantageous, especially in maintaining early pace into the latter half of the race. Well done, Grace!