Carrying son Owen in her arms, Janel Hansbury stepped forward Sunday to accept her award at the 33rd annual Sol Lipton Run Fest.
That's 5½-month-old son Owen.
And that's the award for winning the overall women's championship in the annual half-marathon that finishes in downtown Pottsville.
In March, Hansbury, a 30-year-old from Gordon, gave birth to her first child. In September, she not only ran - but also won - a 13.1-mile road race. Her winning time: 1 hour, 38 minutes, 38 seconds.
"This is my first time running since I had him,'' Hansbury said with a laugh.
"It's awesome. I didn't expect to do this well,'' she added. "I trained, but I didn't expect to come back so quickly.''
Paul O'Hora, a 41-year-old from Scranton, won the men's half-marathon in 1:23:31.
Orwigsburg's Justin O'Brien won the men's 5K in 16:40, while 13-year-old Lexi Covell from Northampton earned the women's title in 22:53.
All four are first-time Sol Lipton Run Fest winners.
The event is the main fundraiser for the Sol Lipton Scholarship Foundation, which has helped more than 75 local high school graduates attend college.
A total of 173 runners competed in Pottsville - 57 in the half-marathon, 100 in the 5K and 16 in the 1.5-mile youth fun run. Ten-year-old Brendan
Lonergan was the top boy in 11:07. Julia Burgess, 7, won the girls' race in 12:45.
Half-marathon serves as springboard for fall marathoners
Hansbury had run the Sol Lipton half-marathon twice before, taking last year off while carrying Owen.
"I didn't race while I was pregnant, but I still ran,'' she said. "That helped.''
Her husband, Brian, held and looked after Owen as the pair cheered on and supported mom as she finished the race.
Hansbury said she started running again within six weeks of Owen's arrival. In years past, she's run half-marathons in Hershey and the Lehigh Valley. Now, if her busy schedule will allow, she's hoping to run the Philadelphia Marathon in November.
The Sol Lipton course tested her fitness for that future goal.
"Oh, it's hilly. It's actually worse than I remember,'' Hansbury said.
O'Hora is a veteran of the Run Fest and has been running marathons for the past 10-11 years.
Recently, he's employed the principles of the Hansons Marathon Method, which stresses shorter runs - nothing over 16 miles - with quicker pacing. Typical marathon training includes at least one 20-mile run.
His times are dropping. O'Hora chopped 1:50 off last year's Sol Lipton time and it led to his first victory. He took the lead on an early uphill and wasn't really challenged the rest of the way.
The half-marathon served as an excellent training run for four marathons O'Hora plans to run: Steamtown in October, Philadelphia in November, Jacksonville, Fla. in December and Houston in January.
"This is a great course. It's hilly. It's challenging,'' O'Hora said. "You have uphills and downhills and it really trains you for about any race, but specifically Steamtown, which has a lot of downhill in the beginning and uphill at the end.''
Youth served in 5K races
O'Brien, 24, is well-known in local running circles. In August, he won the Blue Mountain Run for the Eagles 5K and the 10K portion of the 23rd annual Chris and Kevin Truskey Memorial Run at Tuscarora State Park.
The Blue Mountain High School graduate has come home after college and works in Pottsville. He hadn't participated in the Run Fest since he was a 13-year-old eighth-grader.
"I'm back in the area. I'm not running competitive cross country right now, so I'm getting into the local road races,'' O'Brien said. "This is one of the best in the area, so I wanted to jump in and run it.
"I ran alone for the most part, but I pushed myself,'' he added. "This is about the best I've run in about three years, time-wise.''
O'Brien is working toward competing in the USA 10K Trail National Championships next month in North Carolina.
Covell, an eighth-grader at Northampton Middle School, has competed in track and cross country but never won an all-ages race like this before.
And local runners may be seeing more of her in the future. She has family in the Auburn area and said she plans to transfer to Schuylkill Haven to begin her freshman year.
Covell also had one secret weapon on the Run Fest course.
"I like hills,'' she said. "Honestly, I didn't think it was possible (to win), but I just focused on my form.'' At Pottsville
Sunday's results
HALF-MARATHON
MALE
Overall
1. Paul O'Hora 1:23:31
19-29
1. Michael Womelsdorf 1:40:09, 2. Matthew Curry 1:49:05, 3. Adam Frederick 1:58:13
30-39
1. Nathan Moser 2:03:17, 2. Khalid Ali 2:22:35
40-49
1. Gary Clemson 1:30:58, 2. John Martinko 1:31:05, 3. Tom Kanger 1:31:47
50-59
1. Dave Ballaban 1:42:47, 2. Jim Maloney 1:43:55, 3. Steve Codner 2:18:27
60 and over
1. Neil Policelli 1:43:32, 2. Michael Ranck 1:49:39
FEMALE
Overall
1. Janel Hansbury 1:38:38
19-29
1. Bryanna Villiano 1:46:09, 2. Tracey Brewbaker 1:51:03, 3. Abbie Pauley 1:52:24
30-39
1. Christine Newton 1:56:01, 2. Yvonne Gavalis 1:58:45, 3. Sean Connor 2:03:18
40-49
1. Jo Yoshiko 1:49:19, 2. Amy Nettles 1:52:38, 3. Deborah Goldbreski 2:07:59
50-59
1. Julie Villiano 1:50:48, 2. Cynthia Jenkins 2:10:52
60 and over
1. Shawn Burke 2:18:31
5K
MALE
Overall
1. Justin O'Brien 16:40, 2. Damon Brossman 17:24, 3. Jesse Murphy 19:49
Overall 40 and over
1. Jason Bordner 21:20
13 and under
1. Blaise Carr 20:16, 2. Paul Hertz 23:14
14-18
1. Brett Rushannon 21:41, 2. Evan Jake 23:44
19-24
1. Nick Butts 22:03
25-29
1. Zach Reichert 22:28, 2. Ryan Zvorsky 23:02, 3. Al Martino 24:31
30-34
1. Adam Lipton 21:12, Mike Towle 21:55, 3. Brett Jones 24:04
35-39
1. Brian Marhon 21:19, 2. Matt Hirsch 22:12, 3. Adam Hirsch 23:05
40-44
1. Eric Ziegmont 31:54
45-49
1. Jim Bohorad 25:21, 2. Mike Steinruck 28:27, 3. Bob Whitman 29:48
50-54
1. Nick Mistishen 21:48, 2. Ken MacCready 22:34, 3. Russ Lang 23:20
55-59
1. Bob Hahner 25:37
60-69
1. James Manzick 21:25, 2. John Maskerines 38:06
70 and over
1. Rod Kuhns 32:20
Oldest runner
Terry Derk, age 71, 27:00
FEMALE
Overall
1. Lexi Covell 22:53, 2. Sarah Hahner 23:53, 3. Mindy Zimerofsky 24:36
Overall 40 and over
1. Natalie Stramara 25:49
13 and under
1. Grace LaPointe 34:02
14-18
1. Courtney Steinruck 28:27, 2. Julie Bulino 30:38
19-24
1. Kelsey Walters 25:44, 2. Lindsay Fitzpatrick 26:46, 3. Miranda Deibler 28:56
25-29
1. Christina Atkinson 29:21, 2. Leslie Gipe 30:39, 3. Nicole Sites 30:58
30-34
1. Becky Evans 28:30, 2. Steph Maroukis 29:44, 3. Erin Taronis 30:10
35-39
1. Elizabeth Neifert 25:30, 2. Stacey Lipton 25:46, 3. Lisa Lasco 26:18
40-44
1. Dana Sukeena 27:16, 2. Jennifer Yuengling 27:30, 3. Missy Kanger 27:33
45-49
1. Debbie Markovich 27:47, 2. Michele Scribbick 28:00, 3. Karen Graeff 28:01
50-54
1. Teresa Pellish 33:31
FUN RUN
1.5 miles
MALE
13 and under
1. Brendan Lonergan 11:07, 2. Luke Tobin 12:08, 3. Collin Tobin 12:44
FEMALE
13 and under
1. Julia Burgess 12:45, 2. Campbell Albertini 15:28, 3. Brooke Siket 17:06