Racing Unknown, a 32-Year-Old Lawyer, Speeds Into Marathon Spotlight
A few years ago, while working for a Washington, D.C., law firm, attorney Kelly Jaske began running recreationally with some colleagues.
They were much faster than she was, but her competitive drive helped the Harvard Law School graduate start catching up, reports the Oregonian. In 2007, she moved to Portland, Ore., where she now works for an environmental services company. There she started training with a local road club and, beginning last month, with the help of a professional coach. Last year, she completed the Boston Marathon in a time of 2:48:49.
But the 32-year-old Jaske really hit her stride on Sunday, when she burst onto the national running scene by finishing second in the Houston Half Marathon, seconds behind Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet, the newspaper article recounts. Jaske clocked in at 1:12:06; Lewy Boulet’s winning time was 1:11:47.
Jaske started running recreationally in college, and kept the pastime up as she continued on to law school and then clerked for a federal appeals court judge, she tells Competitor Northwest. At Harvard, “I did law review,” she says, “and it was bazillions of hours of sitting still. Being able to get out to run was such a release.”
“She can be much better than what she ran yesterday,” said her coach, Brad Hudson of the Marathon Performance Training Group in a Monday interview with the Oregonian. “I think she might be challenging the best runners in the marathon very soon.”
Additional coverage:
Running Times: “Meet Kelly Jaske”
Runner’s World: “So Who Is Kelly Jaske, the Surprise USA Half-Marathon Runner-up?”
