Photograph by Jim McCarty
The competition at the GO! St. Louis Marathon might be 15 times the size of Karl Gilpin’s hometown, but it doesn’t faze the 29-year-old marathon runner. Having set a new record last year—running the annual marathon in 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 51 seconds while defending his title in back-to-back years—the personal trainer returns April 19 to try for a three-peat. Gilpin, who was born in St. Louis and moved all over Missouri before ending up in Russellville, a town just west of Jefferson City, considers the St. Louis marathon a homecoming of sorts. “Since there isn’t a marathon in Jeff City, it’s almost like a hometown race,” he says. Having competed in races from Florida to Minnesota, Gilpin talked about the road ahead—and what he’s learned along the way.
In His Words
- I’ve always liked being able to do things that are not easy, per se. I can’t really explain it—it’s just a feeling you get from it.
- You can’t be too aggressive... You go out too fast on a course like St. Louis, and you’re absolutely going to pay later.
- Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, it comes back and bites you... It can humble you right when you think you’ve mastered it.
- When you’ve been doing it awhile, you can tell how far you’ve gone based on the pace.
- I don’t listen to music when I’m running outside... It just seems like a recipe for disaster.
- Race day feels a lot easier than training. You set yourself up mentally and physically to do the best you can, and then you flip the switch.
- The only thing I absolutely have to have is a cup of coffee. That’s a prerequisite.
- With a marathon, you don’t warm up quite as much. The first 15 miles are the warm-up.
- At some point, you have to accept it’s going to hurt like hell. It’s a gradual wearing down.
- You break it up into little pieces. You say, “OK, we’re going to that next mile marker.” Then you get there and go to the next.
- The first year I lose the St. Louis marathon, I’ll probably run the Boston Marathon. Hopefully, that won’t be next year.
95: Average miles per week Gilpin runs while training
