[1]JD Oullette, a senior at Chandler Preparatory Academy [2], recently ran a half marathon and placed 1st in his division (male, age 15-17) at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series [3] with a finish time of 1:14:24. Overall, JD placed 20th out of 5,693 runners. An amazing accomplishment for this 17-year-old.
“I feel like I did good. I felt good and I’m happy with the results,” said Oullette. Always knowing there is room for improvement, JD said, “I think I could have done better on my time, because I felt like I still had a lot left in me after it was over, but I feel good about it.” JD is on The Chandler Prep [2] Boys Cross Country team, who had a stellar 2022 season, finishing second at the Arizona State Meet. JD made first team all-state. Read more about it at https://www.greatheartsamerica.org/running-after-dreams/ [4].
Great Hearts faculty members, James Karlin, a teacher at Glendale Prep [5], participated in the half marathon and Jon Rickey, Great Hearts Arizona Network [6] Director of Athletics ran the 10K.
Mr. Karlin ran the half marathon with an impressive finish time of 1:29:13 and finished 16th in his division (male, 25-29) with an overall placement of 116th out of 5,593 runners. “This was my first half marathon, but I have a bit of marathoning experience. I’ve run three marathons before, and I’ve qualified for Boston. This training cycle wasn’t great for me. Because of my commute, I have to wake up around 4:15 in the morning to get the weekly mileage I want, but things weren’t really coming together in workouts this time around,” said Karlin. “So, I went into the race with the plan of taking it relatively easy and aiming to get the distance under my belt with a good attitude, staying grateful for the fact I can do this at all. I averaged around 6:44 per mile and felt comfortable finishing. It’s not close to what I’ve done in the past (with a marathon at 6:35 average pace), but I’m happy that I was able to accept that result as reasonable in light of my training, keeping a good attitude throughout a race that was pretty cold and wet!”
“I am not a runner. I don’t pretend to be a runner. I am never mistaken of being a runner,” said Rickey. “I am a jogger, not necessarily because I like to, but because I know it is good for me. In all of the sports and all of the teams I played on, running was punishment and I really believed that to be true.”
Rickey said he ran his first Rock N Roll half marathon back in 2005. “My goal was not to walk and not to die, and on that day in 2005 I accomplished my goal. Going to this year, I did the 10K with no issues and the distance didn’t seem too bad. I think with running, whenever you tell someone how far you ran, no matter the distance, someone is always either thinking, ‘Wow that is far,’ or ‘Eh, I could do that.’ That’s what makes it so interesting. 6.4 miles (a 10K) seems insurmountable for some, and yet a warmup for others… People like JD and Mr. Karlin, to run that distance, that fast, is unbelievable to me. They are world-class!”
Congratulations to all 3 runners for the accomplishments they made during this run and their continued dedication to their personal growth as athletes and incredible humans.
Do you have a story or know of a story that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts? Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org [7].