Chicagoans Jeremy Borling and Chris Wehrman, two of northern Illinois' leading road racers, were tied up in a close duel early in the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival 10K on Sunday. Then, just past the mile mark, Wehrman's shoelace came untied.

"I asked him,' What are you going to do,' " Borling recalled after the Chicago Area Runners Association Circuit Race in DeKalb County, about 50 miles west of Chicago. "He (Wehrman) said, 'Will you wait for me?'" So Wehrman, who is training for February's Olympic Marathon Trials, finally stopped and re-tied his shoe. Borling kept going, "I just ran; I didn't make any moves or do any surging," he said.

As he built up a small lead on Wehrman, Borling said he began "to feel guilty" and then "started thinking about Lance Armstrong" (in the Tour de France, stopping one year until his rival, Jan Ullrich, recovered from a fall, and then this year, when he fell and the pack waited until he was OK).

So Borling made a decision.

"I circled back to Chris, and we were running together again," Borling said. "At that point, I knew there wouldn't be any fast time."

So although he didn't get as quick of a time as he wanted, Borling, 23, still opened it up after his moment of fair play and won on a chilly day in 32:15. Wehrman, 27, was a comfortable second in 32:35 and Kevin Horst, 22, of Sycamore placed third in 34:25.

On the women's side, triathlete Jennifer Harrison, 32, of West Dundee, led from start to finish, winning in 39:45.

"It went great, but it was a little windy, especially on that last mile," said Harrison, who has been low-keying it since placing 11th in her age group at the USA Triathlon National Age Group Championships in Shreveport, LA, on Oct. 4. She said she was somewhat surprised that some of the leading female runners on the CARA Circuit were not in the field. But she also was very happy to win!

Second-place woman was Suzanne Ryan, 20, of Wheaton, who ran a 40:02, while third place went to Sharon Metzger, 21, of Batavia, in 40:09. One of the more inspirational performances of the day was turned in by Sr. Kathleen McDonough, 79, of Evanston. To little fanfare, McDonough ran a 1:10:48, easily winning her age group for the 13th time in the 13 circuit races she has entered. The oldest runner in the race by three years, McDonough beat 50 people to the finish line.

Hats, polypro and gloves were out in force as temperatures hovered around 40 degrees when runners ran the first mile uphill into the wind. From that point, conditions were favorable with a slight tailwind out of the northwest on Miles, 2, 3 and 4 before racers headed back into it for much of Miles 5 and 6.

A total of 934 runners completed the course, which was up slightly from last year's 929. The Sycamore race was the second-to-last CARA Circuit Race of the year, with the finale, the Westchester Veterun 10K, coming up on Nov. 9.

For results, click here.