Twin brother vs. twin brother: How the Myrtle Beach half marathon was won
Matthew Martin of China Grove, N.C., won the half marathon portion of the Myrtle Beach Marathon on Saturday in a time of 1:07:27, but he considers himself a co-winner.
His twin brother, Jonathan, was in tow just three seconds behind.
“Usually if one of us wins, both of us win, sort of,” Matthew said.
“We always run together,” Jonathan explained. “But if one of us is feeling better one of us will take the lead and the other will follow. Whoever is feeling better will pull the other along, so we’re very fortunate to have each other in that regard.”
The brothers made the turn for the stretch run together before Matthew pulled away. “There’s a little bit of competition, about the last 0.1 mile,” Matthew said.
“The majority of the race we’re working together as a team,” Jonathan said. “The goal isn’t necessarily to beat Matthew every time, as long as we can both have a good race.
“Matthew’s got some more wheels on him than I do, he’s got a little bit more like turnover, so I just try to hold on he just kind of pulled me through at the end there.”
They both ran distance races of 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters at UNC Pembroke, helping the Braves reach the NCAA Division II national championships as seniors last spring.
“We’re kind of graduating to the longer distance-type stuff,” Matthew said.
Saturday’s race was just the second competitive half marathon the brothers have run. The first was the Battleship half marathon in Wilmington in November, and Jonathan won that by a few seconds in about 1:10, so the brothers set their personal bests.
“It just means that the training we’ve been doing post-collegiately is working, so that’s good to see,” Jonathan said.
They’ll dash 18 to 20 miles in training runs and expect to run a few more half marathons in 2020 before attempting the full marathon distance sometime in 2021.
The brothers take their hobby to work, as Matthew works at the Run For Your Life runner’s specialty store in Charlotte and Jonathan works at a Fleet Feet store in Huntersville.
“We live it, breathe it, sleep it, whatever, all the time,” Matthew said.
Women’s half marathon winner Ivette Mejia quit her job at the New York Road Runners nonprofit running organization a year ago to become a professional runner. She finished in a time of 1:13:55, which was just off her personal best.
“I heard of this course, that it was flat and fast, and I wanted to see what I could do on it,” Mejia said. “It wasn’t a PR but I’m very happy. It was very windy and it was into you the entire race.”
Her boyfriend, Miguel Galvez of Passaic, N.J., ran with her to try to pace her to a personal best time. “But I died in the last few miles,” she said.
It was the first win for the 29-year-old from Manhattan because she often races against the best runners in the country.
Mejia holds dual nationality in the U.S. and Mexico, and will likely attempt to qualify for the Mexican Olympic Team in the marathon. She ran a 2:38 in her only previous marathon and hopes to run a 2:29:30 in her next.
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 10:47 AM.
