"I was a bit nervous. The plan was to get out, get to the 10K mark (his normal race distance) and see where I'm at. And hey, if I'm dying, I'm dying," said Kenneally.
Turns out, he wasn't dying. He was dominating.
The 29-year-old Irish Olympian had never run this distance. Never run this course. Rarely raced on road courses, as opposed to his familiarity with track surfaces and cross country terrain.
"I was a bit nervous. The plan was to get out, get to the 10K mark (his normal race distance) and see where I'm at. And hey, if I'm dying, I'm dying," said Kenneally.
Turns out, he wasn't dying. He was dominating.
In his first 15K (9.3 miles) race, Kenneally nearly eclipsed the course record set by a fellow countryman in winning Saturday's 14th annual Pensacola Double Bridge Run, presented by Publix.
Kenneally, a Dublin, Ireland, native who periodically trains with his coach in Auburn, Ala., finished the challenging course with its scenic vistas in 43 minutes, 35 seconds.
He broke free about a mile into the race and made himself lonely among the 1,723 runners who finished the 15K race.
"I've been a track runner up until recently," he said. "I'm starting to dabble a bit on the roads. I will run a marathon in April, so this was my first step. I got to about seven or eight miles and I knew I was going pretty quick, so I just tried to hang on that last mile and a half."
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