Finishing at Pike's Peek in 2008 - photo by Kathy Freedman

The Beginning
I first met Jake Klim at the Kentland's 5K three or four years ago. I went to the race on a whim to introduce a Kenyan friend, Hillary Kipchumba, to a local running event. It was a rainy day. At the outset of the race, I immediately recognized the face of the legendary Gurmessa Kumsa, the local running champion at the time, as well as other local running warriors such as Dave Haaga, Mark Hoon, and local coaching legend George Buckheit with his squad of female Pacers racers.

At the starting line, the only clear favorite was Kumsa and I could not really see any other potential challenger. Unknown to me at the time, a tall redheaded runner was also lurking at the start line. If I had seen him, most likely I would have assumed he was some local guy looking for a fun Saturday morning run. The gun went off and the runners bolted. Since it was a 5K, the race was over in a flash. Kumsa came in first and, to my surprise, the redhead came in third. I said to myself, "this big kid can run."

Some months passed and Jake's name did not come to my attention until one day I received an E-mail out of the blue. It was from Jake. Apparently, he had read some of my posts about running with some folks on the C&O Canal and was interested in joining up. We started a pleasant E-mail dialogue and, in time, started a small running group. Typically, we would run on the weekends, meeting on the Maryland/DC line and running the trails in Rock Creek Park. It was during these runs that Jake impressed upon me his life-long commitment to running.

Jake Klim was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts in 1980 to a running family. Both of his parents run, as does his sister. As a youngster, Jake ventured down to Boston with his parents every April to watch them pay tribute to the mighty Boston Marathon. You might say that running is in his blood. I can just picture a little redheaded Jake waving a flag and cheering as his parents came galloping down the home stretch on Boylston Street.

Jake's running started in grade school. As he moved along and up through the ranks of life, he discovered he was good at the sport and even enjoyed it. When he entered high school, he participated in cross-country and track. Thus began his career in competitive running.

At the onset of his competitive running career, Jake documented his running accomplishments in a journal and also created two scrapbooks that would eventually capture all of his accomplishments through college and beyond.

For various reasons, Jake never achieved his running potential in high school or college. Either because of the distances he was running, the coaching he received, or injuries, he was never able put it all together. Jake attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County where he was considered one of their top runners. Upon graduation, he moved to DC where he dabbled in and out of running for several years. As many post college grads do, they seek to find their niche in the world at large. During this period, Jake continued to train sporadically. He battled through some nagging shin pain in his early-mid 20s and trained mostly on the weekends when he had plenty of time. At age 26, he began to get the time to train more and develop his running in concert with a steady group of training partners.

The Development from Good to Great
Aside from his involvement with a core group of running partners, Jake discovered that he still had some juice in the legs at the 2006 Rockville Twilight 8K. Not knowing how he would fare, he jumped into it. He ran 26:42, far better than he expected, and so a thought was planted in his mind that he could improve his race times. In the fall of that year, Jake continued to run well as he ran 53:22 in the Army Ten Miler.

It was during this period that Jake and I, along with several others including Jason Dwyer, Ben Cooke, Allen Carr, Matias Palavecino, Melissa Tanner, Christian Camacho, and others affiliated with the Georgetown Running Company, began training with each other on a regular basis. Jake credits this group, which continues to expand and is a growing force in local running, for much of his success. I encountered Jake just as he was coming out of his submerged running state and have had the privilege to witness it in its entirety.

The Present and the Future
Jake is currently running better than ever. He has set PRs at every distance attempted from the 5K to the marathon and expects to continue on this path. In the spring of 2007, he set a PR in the 10K, 31:29. In the fall of 2007 he ran 25:12 for 8K, and in '08, he PR'd at the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile running 52:37. That was followed by Boston where he ran 2:35. Just recently, he set a PR in the 5K at 15:14 at the Kentland's 5K. Jake planned to attack his personal bests during fall 2008 by running with his Georgetown Running Company colleagues at the Philadelphia Distance Run and the Army Ten Miler.

Summary
Clearly Jake has found his niche in the running arena. He attributes this to several factors.

One: a regular group of training partners who have become more than just running partners but, more importantly, friends. Not only do they run together, they often socialize and do other intense bonding activities such as playing/battling it out with sessions of paintball.

Two: committing himself to regular training.

Three: caring for pets. Jake is very fond of birds and is a dedicated owner of two cockatiels (Puddy and Mitten).

Four: a job that is flexible enough to support his running. Jake is an independent TV/film producer who works for a company that does work for The Weather Channel. Jake is very passionate about the visual arts. So much so that he worked with a friend to co-lead a Running Film Festival at this year's Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. The festival was very successful. It is safe to say that his success is due to Jake Klim's great dedication to the sport of running. Jake is still young at the tender age of 28. Who knows what he will choose to do as his life path twists and turns. For the time being, however, Jake Klim is lighting up the local road races, having fun, and providing leadership in Washington's running community. Keep it up, Jake!