Photo by Seth Staskey Aiden Konhaus won the men's division of the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic on Saturday.

WHEELING — Aiden Konhaus lives and trains in Elkins. So, he’s quite familiar with hilly and mountainous training.

Still, however, he wasn’t quite sure what he was getting into when he registered for the 45th running of the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic, which is part of Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine.

Konhaus realized immediately upon the ascent of 29th Street Hill into Bethlehem just how challenging the Wheeling course was Saturday morning.

Konhaus, a former Davis & Elkins track and cross country runner, still though found a way to get the job done and left the Friendly City with the top prize in the event after posting a game of 1 hour, 12 minutes, 58 seconds, which was just 34 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

“I knew when I was looking over the course map that it was going to be tough, but I knew it wouldn’t be quite the same as what I am accustomed to in Elkins,” Konhaus said. “This (course) was a doozy. I took this race pretty seriously and it was as tough as advertised.”

As he made his way through the sun-splashed Friendly City and its suburbs, Konhaus was able to work his way to the front of the pack and eventually gain separation as he worked the rolling hills on the National Road portion of the race through Elm Grove and into the Wheeling Park area of the course.

“I knew once I came off the big hill there was a section of rolling hills, so I thought that would be the best place to make my kick,” Konhaus pointed out. “I know I don’t have a super-great kick, so if I left it to try to go really late in the race, I would probably get cooked, so I made a hard move in the middle portion of the race.”

Konhaus admitted shortly after the race that he was “running on fumes” by the time he entered back into the downtown Wheeling area. But, he didn’t have time to take his foot off the gas because of the proximity of defending champion Brendan Sands, who finished second.

“When I was going over my race plan, I wanted to close the last mile as hard as possible because I knew it was basically all down hill,” Konhaus admitted. “I wanted to make sure I had nothing left in the tank before.”

This was the first time Konhaus had tackled the Ogden Half Marathon. Quite simply, as he eyeballs races later this summer, it fit well into his training schedule and the opportunity to test himself not only on a new course, but many new opponents was too good to pass up.

“I run a lot of hills in Elkins, but this really seemed like a good race and course to try out,” Konhaus said.

The Johnsontown, Pa. native compared training for hills on road-racing courses to supplementing your diet with certain nutrients.

“The best way to do it is probably a balanced diet, so you’re regularly getting those things rather than supplementing and I approach my training similarly,” Konhaus admitted. “When I am training, even if it’s an easy run, I try to make sure I run over a bunch of hills. I am not doing an intense hills workout, but covering enough hills.”

Konhaus couldn’t pinpoint when his next competitive race would be because he knows the Ogden is going to take some time to bounce back from.

“I am up in the air (about my schedule), but I am definitely going to take some time after this one,” Konhaus admitted.

There’s probably a good chance, however, that Konhaus’ next event is 13.1 miles or shorter again.

“I’ve never ran a marathon and, to be completely honest, the first thing that goes through my head when I am finished with one of these is, ‘thank God I am not doing this twice in a row,'” Konhaus said.

Wheeling’s Jared Ullom, who competed in track and cross country at West Liberty, finished third overall in a time of 1 hour, 14 minutes, 41 seconds.