Prairie Fire is Chris Burnett’s starting block to the next level

Chris Burnett sees his future in the marathon, but it’s a race he still has never completed.

That won’t change on Sunday in the Prairie Fire Marathon series, as the 2015 Wichita State graduate will be running in the half-marathon. He doesn’t have experience in that race, either, as Sunday will be just the second in his career.

So what did he do the first time he ran a half-marathon? He won last year’s Prairie Fire title and broke the state record by two minutes with his time of 1 hour, 4 minutes, 24 seconds.

“My long-term goal is definitely going to be more of a marathoner, but I just don’t want to make the jump too soon since that is such a long race and it’s different training,” Burnett said. “I still have a ways to go, but I’m showing some promise. We only have so long in the sport of running, so I’m going to try to do it while I still can.”

Burnett carved out a successful career at Wichita State on the track, where he excelled primarily as a 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer runner.

But his success at last year’s Prairie Fire sparked an interest in road racing for Burnett, especially now that he has completed school. He still lives in Wichita and is a volunteer assistant for the Wichita State cross country team.

Burnett is still eyeing shorter races and wants the transition to becoming a marathon runner to be gradual. That’s typical, according to Wichita State cross country coach Kirk Hunter.

“When you’re younger, your body isn’t quite ready for that,” Hunter said. “That’s a base that takes time to build up over long years of training to be able to handle a marathon. If your body isn’t ready for it, then it’s a brutal pounding.”

Originally Burnett was planning to take the Prairie Fire race easy, but after disappointing himself last weekend at the USATF 10-mile championships he is ready for a redemption run.

“Depending on how well I come out and how the weather is, I may end up going after it and see if I can better my time,” Burnett said. “I’m not really expecting to do that, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Winning last fall not only furthered Burnett’s belief he could have a future in the sport, it jump-started it. The time qualified him in the “B” standard to run at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials next February in Los Angeles.

So this Sunday will be Burnett’s last race of 2015, as he will begin an intense 4-month training session in preparation for the biggest race of his life.

“I have a huge belief in his ability to do pretty much anything he wants,” Hunter said. “He’s extremely talented and extremely disciplined, and when you combine those two things together it can be pretty special. I think if his body will allow him to, he’s going to do whatever he wants to do.”

Burnett hopes the next time Wichitans see him, it will be in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics.

“I wanted to come back and run in what is pretty much my hometown now,” Burnett said. “I wanted to get a longer race and some practice in against some good competition and that it’s in Wichita is very convenient for me. I’m excited to see what I can do in the next few months.”