Allison Luse of St. Paul finished the 2014 Boston Marathon in an impressive 3:29:53. Anyone who knows her running buddy, David Munn of Minneapolis, immediately knew his finishing time, too: 3:29:53.
Since meeting through friends a few years ago, thirty-something Allison and 59-year-old David are comically in sync in nearly every race they run. The two attorneys completed the 2012 Mankato Marathon (to qualify for Boston) in 3:26:14, earning virtually identical bib numbers. And they're rarely more than a few seconds apart in shorter challenges.
"I never really had anyone to run with who ran the way I wanted to," Allison says. "We are really compatible," agrees David, who says Allison is like a favorite niece to him.
Since running the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996, David had dialed back his running to about four miles a few times a week, competing in an occasional 10k.
Then friends introduced him to Allison, a solitary runner who competed in cross-country in high school. They were amazed at how similar their paces were. "I wasn't the best at sports," says Allison. "But running? I just loved it."
Soon, David's mileage was climbing. "And we were getting faster and that was cool," Allison says.
On their first run in March 2012, a six-mile jaunt around Lake of the Isles, they talked the whole time.
During races, they learned it was best to be quiet. "We want to conserve our energy," she says. They run three days a week, up to 12 miles each time, along the Chain of Lakes or Mississippi River.
