josh crossing the finish at the Chicago rock and roll half marathon

Comment by Deb Craft on August 15, 2011 at 9:01pm

CHICAGO — The sky opened up after most of the assembled field of 21,000 runners crossed the finish line of the XSport Fitness Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon, but Josh Glaab of Superior, Colorado opened up a big lead by the race’s 5-mile mark to win in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 3 seconds on an overcast, 60-degree Sunday morning in the Windy City. Glaab, a high school science teacher and cross country coach at Fairview High School in Boulder, separated himself from fellow Coloradoan, and friend, Curtis Begley of Boulder by mile 4 and stayed clear of the field all the way to the finish line. “The goal was to try and run a little faster than we ran,” said Glaab, who was hoping to be under the Olympic Trials Marathon qualifying time of 65 minutes. “I tried to find a nice pace and tried to stay as smooth as I could.”  Running side-by-side with Begley through downtown Chicago, the duo hit 2 miles in 9:46. The third mile passed in 5:07 (14:53) before Glaab put his foot down on the accelerator and opened up a lead.  “Every time I would turn a corner someone would be yelling,” Glaab said. “That really kept me going. My buddy and I have been training together so we took it out together and tried to go after it.”  Coming through 5 miles in 25:04 and 10K in 31:17, Glaab maintained a low 5-minute pace through the 10-mile mark in 51:30. He slowed over the final 5K as the course snaked out of downtown and came along the city’s windblown lakefront, but still held on for a 53-second victory over second-place finisher Brendon Moody of Van Wert, Ohio. Begley held on for third in 1:10:46.Glaab, who ran collegiately at Colorado State, spent the past few years pursuing his Masters degree while teaching part-time and running “a bunch.” He’s scaled his training back since he started teaching and coaching full-time last year. “I’ve been running a bunch, so right before school started I had to do some kind of race,” said Glaab, who ran 65:01 in Houston in 2009. “My plan right now is to start running to and from school. It’s about 8 miles each way.”

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