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| 2017 Tunnel Hill - First 50 MIler |
Tell us a little about yourself not necessarily related to running: age, where born, education, area you live in, etc…..
My names Kelly Tipple. I was born and raised in rural Ohio in a little town called Union City. ½ of the town was in Indiana and ½ of the town was in Ohio. Back when Indiana didn’t change times, ½ the year the two sides of the city were on 2 different time zones, which we called slow and fast time. I graduated from Mississinawa Valley High School in 1988, Taylor University in Upland, Indiana in 1992 with a bachelor degree in Mass Communications and a minor in Public Relations, Georgia State University in Atlanta in 1996 with a Master of Business Administration and in 1997 with a Master in Health Administration. I currently live in Elizabethtown, Kentucky with my wife, Lori, and our youngest daughter, Victoria. Our oldest daughter, Jordan, lives in Louisville.
What is your profession?
I’m currently a police officer for the city of Elizabethtown where I’m also a D.A.R.E. instructor at one of the local elementary schools.
How does running help you in your profession?
Obviously, staying fit is critical in law enforcement and the ability to run when needed is a most have skill for success.
How did you start running and what prompted you to do so?
Other than running as part of conditioning drills for other sports, I never ran until approximately 3 ½ years ago when I decided to apply to become a police officer in E-town. I actually hated to run and thought those who did had something wrong with them. Knowing that at 45 years old and 280+ lbs. that I must get into shape in order to not only pass the PT test during the application process, but then to be successful at the Kentucky police academy, I began running and getting into shape, which lead to getting hooked up with my running family at Running Soles and ultimately losing approximately 100 lbs.
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| 2018 Tunnel Hill - First 100 MIler |
Approximately 3 ½ years.
Did you participate in any other sports over the years?
I participated in baseball, football and wrestling off and on in my young years and even 1 year of college football as a walk on at Taylor. I was never a superstar at any of them, but always loved the competition and camaraderie of team sports.
I’ve played the drums since I can remember and participated in most of the high school bands including concert, jazz and marching band, starting when I was in the 7th grade, which made participating in sports a little tricky.
Did you run in grade school, High School or College?
No, only when required for gym class or as part of a sports team.
So we get an idea of where you have been with running can you share your PR’s for: 5K, 10K marathon and any other distance you may have run in the past.
- 5k – 23:59
- 10k – 52.13
- ½ Marathon - 1:50
- Full Marathon - 4:22
- 50 Miles - 9:52
- 100 Miles - 28:12
There are so many it’s hard to just pick only one or two. I have to say one would be the 2016 National Police Week 5k in Washington DC with the E-town Cadets. Trooper Ponder’s mother had given us all 954 headbands to wear to honor his memory and running through the streets of DC past all of the memorials with other law enforcement officers was a humbling experience. I ended up setting my 5k PR that day.
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| Running Soles Bourbon Chase Team |
Do you have a favorite workout you do?
Being still relatively a novice runner, I’m still tweaking my running, however, I am a firm believer in hear rate zone training revolving around the 80/20 rule. I absolutely love trail running and find the sloppier and nastier the better, which reminds me of an 8 hr. ultra I ran with Tony where we ended up running in thigh deep water on portions of the course before the time expired. Wow! Good times!
I have also always enjoyed weight training since my teenage years and believe functional workouts are very important in my line of work and ultra running. I’ve been using Bronco Billy’s Tough 21 workout for several months and have found it to be very worthwhile.
What does a regular week of training look like?
Typically, 50-75 miles per week, depending upon where I’m at in my training cycle, with 3 days of 6-8 milers, 1 day LSD then 2-3 days of 5 milers on the elliptical followed by a weight work out, which is currently the Bronco Billy routine. Zone II runs take up 80% of my time, then the other 20% is more speed focused and thus, higher Zones.
How about a favorite route you like to run?
My routes are all dependent on multiple factors like length of the run (miles), focus of the run (speed vs. low heart rate), how much time I have (before or after work) and what race is coming up (trail, road, ultra)
What is your favorite distance to run and race?
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| Graduation Day |
What shoes do you run in and what do you like about them?
I’m almost an exclusive Altra runner with my favorites being Torins for road and Temps for trail with Instincts, Paradigms and Lone Peaks thrown in on occasion. I also have a pair of Hoka Cliftons that get a run every once in a while.
How about diet, do you eat any certain way and do things change on race week and race day?
This area is really under construction right now as I began working with an awesome nutritionist about a month ago. She’s working with me to custom fit an eating plan to not only lean me out, but develop a healthier lifestyle that is sustainable. I am a brand ambassador for Honey Stinger and love their products for race day along with Sword for hydration and nutrition.
Do you have any long-range plans?
I typically try to race once per month on average depending on my work schedule and have several awesome races coming up including Ragnar Otter Creek – Ultra, RUTS Corydon, The Backyard Classic, and The Moonbow, which are all leading up to Tunnel Hill 100 round two with a focus on a sub 24 hr. performance.
What do you like best about living and running in KY?
The weather for the majority of the year is very runnable and the variety of places to run within an hour driving distance is phenomenal.
Anywhere else you would like to visit to run?
I love to run a lot of places and seem to keep increasing the size of my running area over time.
Do you have any bucket list races?
Somethings I like to keep secret. LOL!
What do you struggle with most with regards to running?
The will power to take that 1st step out of bed in the early hours before work to go put the necessary work in to train. Once I’m up, I’m usually good to go, but the 1st step sometimes can be a killer! Sometimes I have to scroll throw Strava and see what my Running Soles friends have done, which then motivates me to get moving!
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| Backside 1/2 Marathon |
What do you see as a trend in running?
I don’t believe I’ve been around long enough to provide a solid answer, but I will say 3 years ago, I’d heard of a ton of 5ks, but no ultra races. Now, it seems there are ultra races somewhere in Kentucky about every month.
How has running with a group, such as the Running Soles group, helped you?
If you had one, well maybe two or three, things to say those that are running to encourage them what would it be?
- Find a running group and participate in their activities as much as possible
- Find your Why and focus on it during hard times
- Stop trying to get motivated. Either decide to Do it or Don’t.
Strava and Facebook are about the outer limits of my tech abilities…..I’m old!
Any closing comments?
You do you on your running journey. People will always be faster. Run longer. Look better. But they are not you.
Here is a nice video piece done by Running Soles on Kelly
********You can see past interviews here********
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