He also won the 2006 title, and while his times have slipped a bit since then, he beat the next-best finisher by five minutes.
“This year, there wasn’t a bunch of young fast guys,” he said. “It left some opportunities for some veterans in the field.”
Cucuzzella, who has a private medical practice and teaches med students at West Virginia University, is part of a growing subculture among runners that believes the bulky brand-name shoes promote improper form and lead to injuries. The school of thought is that taking shorter strides and landing on the mid-part of the foot is the way the body was designed to run and will lead to long-term health.
His views aren’t popular with the running establishment — or shoe companies, for that matter — but it’s hard to argue with the results. After developing severe arthritis in his big toe with standard shoes, Cucuzzella has run pain-free for years.
“I’ve been told (running) is going to trash your joints, but that’s not true — it’s the farthest thing from the truth as you can get. It’s run correctly and run with good form,” he said.
Mark Looney of Troy was the top area finisher, placing ninth in 2:52.04, while Geoffrey Hahm of Dayton was 10th (2:54:23) and Michael Michno of Kettering was 11th (2:54:33).
Wedding proposal: Brandie Denlinger reached her goal of breaking two hours in the half-marathon, but that wasn't the best part of her day — not even close.
As she crossed the finish line, boyfriend Jeff Wright was waiting for her with roses and an engagement ring. He proposed, and his girlfriend of 11 years said yes.
“I was shocked. It was the last thing I expected at the finish line. I had no idea,” she said.
Both are Brookville High School grads who have lived in New York City for three years.
“I didn’t want to do anything too cliché. I thought this would be original,” he said. “In New York, her friends and family wouldn’t have been able to see it.”
For the area: Colonel Amanda Gladney, the commander of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and once a college basketball player and high school track star of note, talked about what this event means to the area:
“First of all it’s a big deal for the Air Force and it’s a big deal for Dayton. We have a record-breaking number of registered racers — over 13,500 — and we have over 2,000 volunteers from around the community helping us put it on. The weather is great, it’s just a perfect day.”
Asked her thoughts as a fellow athlete — she was a record-setting point guard at the Air Force Academy and later coached there — she smiled: “Just to watch some of the amazing icons of the marathon community out here puts a chill down your back.”
Although she won All-State honors in Pennsylvania as a prep long jumper and triple jumper, she laughed at her distance capabilities: “I ran with the sprinters. But anything past the length of the basketball court, I’m just not that person.”
Second finish: Karen Kasich, the 47-year-old wife of Ohio Governor John Kasich, finished the marathon for the second year in a row and praised the event afterward.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful race,” she said after finishing in 4 hours and 4 minutes. “I came here last year and loved it so much I came back. I dedicated this race to my sister’s best friend, Christy, who died suddenly after living 27 years as a quadriplegic. I figured if she could live all those years with such grace and spunk, I could do the marathon in her honor.”
Experience not required: Women's marathon winner Sarah Yoder Thomas had tried only two other races at the 26.2-mile distance, completing just one about five years ago.
But she finished in 2:58:51 — five minutes ahead of the next-fastest runner and about three minutes ahead of last year’s winning pace.
“OK, I’m not going to lie. I checked out last year’s results, and I said, ‘If I ran like I did five years ago, I could win,’ “ she said. “But it was five years ago. I didn’t know what I could do.”
Victory or bust: Bruce Chase of Westerville, Ohio, won the men's hand-crank marathon, but he didn't get through the race unscathed. He crashed during a turn, scraping his arm.
But he was all smiles after winning in his first try at age 60.
“I expected to win. That’s horrible to say. But I trained hard and I wanted to win. I didn’t come out here to play, I came out to win,” he said.
New life: Darwin Coligado, 37, of Elk Grove Village, Ill., won the men's wheeled marathon three years after a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.
“The first couple of months were really dark. I was extremely depressed. But I have faith in the Lord, and I had one of two choices: I could let this bring me down into a spiral or make the most of what I had,” he said.
He chose the latter.
“Because of that (accident), I thought my life was over. This is a way to stay fit, and I’ve always been fit.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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