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Twin brothers come out on top at Little Rock half-marathon

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock employee and his twin brother earned the top two spots in the men鈥檚 55-59 age group in the on March 4, continuing a tradition of running together that spans nearly four decades.聽 Karl Lenser, employee wellness coordinator for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, finished 22nd overall out of 5,875 runners with a time of one hour, 24 minutes, and 29 seconds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty good time for an old guy,鈥� joked Lenser. 鈥淚 remember scrolling down the results section for the half-marathon, and the top finishers are all in their 20s and 30s, and suddenly there is an anomaly in the form of a 58-year-old.鈥� What made his grand finish even sweeter was sharing the race with his identical twin brother, Kurt Lenser of Nashville, who finished second in the 55-59 male age group with a time of one hour, 31 minutes, and 13 seconds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice that we got it back to back, brother to brother,鈥� Karl Lenser said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e done lots of races over the years, hundreds and hundreds together.鈥� While in high school, the Lenser brothers played tennis and basketball and didn鈥檛 pay much attention to the long-distance competitions. 鈥淲e used to think that running was so boring,鈥� Karl Lenser said. 鈥淚n a couple of years, we were running addicts.鈥� The twin brothers have been running together since they took a Jogging and Fitness 101 class as juniors at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. Their first race was a 5-mile run at Oktoberfest 1979 in La Crosse. Now they visit each other鈥檚 hometowns several times a year to continue their racing tradition of 38 years. That class also inspired both brothers to continue their education, earn a master鈥檚 degree in exercise science, and go into health and wellness careers. While Karl spends his days getting 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock employees in shape and teaching indoor cycling classes at Conway Regional Health and Fitness Center, his twin works as a personal trainer at Prairie Athletic Club in Franklin, Tennessee. 鈥淚t鈥檚 funny how one class can change your life,鈥� Karl Lenser said. 鈥淎fter a few years of running and having more energy, self esteem, and confidence, we both thought it would be cool to help others gain the benefits of being more active, eating better, and making overall positive lifestyle changes.鈥� In the upper right photo,聽Kurt Lenser (left) and his twin brother, Karl Lenser (right), earned the top two spots in the men’s 55-59 age group at the Little Rock Half-Marathon.聽