Thiessen Places Second in Munich Half Marathon

Karl at Munich's Olympic Stadium

Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Karl Thiessen ran 1:06:05 to place second in the Munich Half Marathon on Sunday afternoon in Germany. It was Karl's debut at the distance and just his second competition representing GTC-ELITE, following his graduation from the University of Tennessee. He recently placed 11th at the USATF 10K Road Championships in Northport, NY in his first post-collegiate competition.  

"It was a great debut for Karl at the Half Marathon distance," stated Coach Mike Caldwell. "The weather conditions were not ideal for running really fast at that distance as temperatures were right around 70-degrees (F), but under cloudy skies. Our pre-race plan was to start conservatively due to the weather forecast and the 12:30 pm start, and hopefully average around 3:07-3:08 per kilometer." Karl was able to average that pace, although he started much too fast as he ran with the eventual winner and passed the first 5K in 14:42 (2:56 per K). He slowed over the 18th-20th kilometers, but covered the final K in 3:07.  

Karl texted right after the finish, "2nd, a 28:10 guy won and went out blazing. I went with him when I shouldn’t have. Way too fast first 5k and I bonked a little bit." 

Karl Thiessen receiving his runner-up award.

Top four Half Marathon finishers.

---

Greenville Track Club-ELITE was established in 2012 and is in its second decade as a post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru, three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA and one qualifier and participant in the 2021 USATF Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 3000m Steeplechase. The program's runners set four South Carolina State road race records in 2020 (5K, 15K and Half Marathon--twice) and three (15K, 10-Mile and 20K) in 2021. GTC-ELITE also produced the South Carolina Men's 2020 Long Distance Runner of the Year. 

​The program is sponsored and supported by the 51-year-old Greenville Track Club, ASICS, Joy Real Estate (Adopt an Athlete partner), generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, UCAN energy products, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board (balance & mobility), On Pace Wellness (nutrition coaching) and LEVER Movement (treadmill body weight support). The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.​