Weitzel Crushes Personal Best at Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Greenville Track Club ELITE's Jason Weitzel knocked a whopping 1 minute and 32 seconds off his previous Personal Best by running 1:02:28 in the Aramco Houston Half Marathon on Sunday morning. On a cold (33 degrees) and windy morning, Jason's splits were 14:41 at 5K, 29:22 at 10K, 44:18 at 15K, 47:38 at 10-miles, and 59:21 at 20K. The 15K, 10-mile and 20K times are also the fastest times in GTC-ELITE history. Weitzel's finishing time also breaks Jack Mastandrea's GTC-ELITE program record of 1:03:49 by 1 minute and 21 seconds. That record was set only two months ago in the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon--the same event where Weitzel had run his previous PB of 1:04:00. In Houston, Jason placed 34th in the deepest finish in the race's long history and was the 15th USA citizen finisher among the international field.

Jason Weitzel

"We are extremely proud of Jason's performance," stated GTC-ELITE Director/Coach Mike Caldwell. "He has trusted our process and we expected him to have a breakthrough performance if the conditions cooperated." Jason texted Caldwell at 5:45 am CST (one hour before the race start): "definitely gonna tuck in at all costs it’s sufficiently windy - my kinda weather though." A native West Virginian, Jason prefers the colder temperatures.
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The Aramco Houston Half Marathon has been a good race for GTC-ELITE the past two years as Eduardo Garcia and Karl Thiessen both broke the previous GTC-ELITE program record with times of 1:03:57 and 1:04:00 in 2024. That record was later surpassed by Garcia (1:03:53) in Istanbul, and Mastandrea 1:03:49 in Indianapolis. Houston has also been  memorable as both alum Joe Niemiec and current athlete Eduardo Garcia ran personal best marathons to qualify for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials marathon. 

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All-Time GTC-ELITE Top Ten Half Marathon Performances

Greenville Track Club-ELITE was established in 2012 and is in its second decade as a post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. The program developed and produced one participant for the 2024 Olympic Games marathon in Paris, 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, one qualifier and participant in the 2021 USATF Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 3000m Steeplechase and three qualifiers for the 2024 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Orlando, FL. 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 52-year-old Greenville Track Club, ASICS, Joy Real Estate (Adopt an Athlete partner), generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board (balance & mobility) 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.​