Something to Believe In

Fall seven times, stand up eight


For Joel Gladfelter, the 13th time was the charm at the Irv Zablocky Memorial Run. For the past 12 years he's tried to achieve the one thing he desires most - to win "Z's" Race. It's a 3.55 mile run in Joel's hometown, named in honor of a great leader, motivator, and man. Joel will give credit to Z for making him the runner he is today. 12 times Joel has not finished first. 12 times his friend K.C. has beaten him. Sometimes it's been close, others not so close. But every year Joel goes to this race he believes he can win.

On Saturday, Joel's 13th time toeing the line, opportunity met preparedness. Joel has had a fantastic spring, recording PRs at every distance he's raced, in particular the 5k. He had a solid game plan going into the race and knew exactly how he had to run in order to win. He executed that plan to perfection, and was rewarded with a clear (24 second) victory.

Getting the win in the fastest time you've ever run on a course, AND beating your longtime rival, it doesn't get much better than that. The effort was good enough to earn Joel the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

I won't bore you too much with results from Baltimore Ten Miler. The highlight was Sara Breedlove notching a big victory there with a PR of 1:05:12. That's 6:30/mile on a tough course! Sara B of course diligently does her work each day and earned every bit of that win. Way to go Sara!

Shout to our ultra runners: PJ Anderer tackled his first ever 50 miler out in Wyoming. The Bighorn 50 it was called, and he finished in just under 13 hours. That's a long time on your feet! And Dave Ploskonka did the TARC 100 miler somewhere, and finished in just over 29 hours. To quote every person up near Clifton Park as we run by, "y'all crazy!"

Action continues locally this weekend with the Baltimore's best summer event - Dreaded Druid Hills! The race is Saturday, starts at 7:30am. It looks like it's heating up this week and so we'll probably see a return of some heat and humidity for this one. If you're able to volunteer please let me know soon so I can get you set up with a job to perform!

And of course the Baltimore Women's Classic 5k is on Sunday. Competitive up front, it's a good one to do if you're looking to race short and flat. And also if you're a girl.