Does he even have a contract? He wore the MN distance puma singlet today and asics shoes.
Usually that would mean he might have a job on the side.
Maybe you should do your job and find out?
After the race I went to the MDE website where each athletes had their occupation right under their name, his is Sales. Most of the team has a job outside of running.
Does he even have a contract? He wore the MN distance puma singlet today and asics shoes.
Usually that would mean he might have a job on the side.
Maybe you should do your job and find out?
bro that is literally what he's doing... asking here cause might be easy to find out then prob reach out to someone or ask him since i'm sure he'll be in the wtw
Joel will be 33 next summer, so we are probably seeing him at his best now, and he likely has a couple good years left in the marathon. He is one to cheer for.
Grinder type, gutted out a tough Grandma’s victory earlier this year in hot conditions when everyone else was falling apart. Probably deserves a bigger contract considering he beat Hicks and Klecker today and he’s toiling away in a shoe store somewhere in the Minneapolis suburbs.
Does he even have a contract? He wore the MN distance puma singlet today and asics shoes.
Usually that would mean he might have a job on the side.
I’ve run with him a few times. He definitely got rejected/ignored by Chicago last year. They wouldn’t even let him register late in the elite field. I’m not sure about this year.
Pretty quiet guy, just grinds away. No major shoe contract last I talked to him. I think he had a few smaller sponsors and gets a small stipend and a few things through MDE.
That's disappointing & feels a bit strange since he ran 2:10 there in 2023. I would've guessed that it was more of a not wanting to pay an appearance fee type of thing since they have a sub-elite corral. Seems like getting a bib shouldn't be a problem for sub-2:15 types at American majors.
He ran gutsy yesterday. Progression looks super consistent. Has just been chipping away at his times over the last few years. Clear that he trains through some races & then settles around certain marks. 13-high/28-mid/47-48 10 miles/1:02 half. 3:51 is his fastest 1500/4:10 fastest mile. This guy should give a lot of people hope.
That's disappointing & feels a bit strange since he ran 2:10 there in 2023. I would've guessed that it was more of a not wanting to pay an appearance fee type of thing since they have a sub-elite corral. Seems like getting a bib shouldn't be a problem for sub-2:15 types at American majors.
He ran gutsy yesterday. Progression looks super consistent. Has just been chipping away at his times over the last few years. Clear that he trains through some races & then settles around certain marks. 13-high/28-mid/47-48 10 miles/1:02 half. 3:51 is his fastest 1500/4:10 fastest mile. This guy should give a lot of people hope.
It is a problem. I ran 2:12 a while back and Chicago didn't respond, Boston gave a bib but no other assistance (it's a pain to get to that starting line), New York gave travel assistance and bib. If you're only running 2:15 there's not much of a chance to get on one of the start lines. 100% there are some Americans running 2:10 who get ignored by Chicago. Don't mean this negatively towards Hanson's but they'll have guys running 2:17 getting into Chicago while other Americans have run several minutes faster not getting any communication. I wish it were more consistent.
If you are fortunate to get a contract as a 2:10-2:12 guy it's easy to get in to these races as you would have an agent who can just submit a bunch of people. But a guy like Joel does not have a contract, no agent, it's very hard to get a spot on the starting line. Now that he's run 2:09 and got 6th at New York he should have a much easier go the next couple years leading up to 2028.
Joel has been working at a shoe store the past 8 years or so, just getting by on his running journey. Most of the time not even a stipend from Minnesota as funds were/are low. He's now got a faster PR than a lot of guys who have had contracts the past 5+ years making hundreds of thousands of dollars from running over that time. Hopefully this gets Joel something solid through the 2028 trials, he's paid his dues and is at a level to compete with the top Americans (aside from maybe Mantz). He beat Simbassa who ran 2:06 in Spain. A 2:09 at New York is worth at least a 2:08 on one of those faster courses, maybe 2:07.
^^^ But that's why Grandma's, CIM, Houston, Monumental Marathon are so important for the non WMM Americans to have chances to run fast. It's like a prerequisite to run fast somewhere else to even get into Chicago/New York/Boston unless you're someone who got a contract out of college running fast 5k/10k times. In Joel's case his prerequisite performance was 3rd place at CIM in 2:12 in 2022.
There ought to be a site dedicated to crowd-funding support for athletes like Joel. The site could include pure cash grants or dedicated purchases (athlete posts need for shoes, equipment, travel, etc.) and people can buy those things. It could serve track and field athletes, but those in other sports, too.
Grinder type, gutted out a tough Grandma’s victory earlier this year in hot conditions when everyone else was falling apart. Probably deserves a bigger contract considering he beat Hicks and Klecker today and he’s toiling away in a shoe store somewhere in the Minneapolis suburbs.
Well, he has a new fan in me. Someone make some t-shirts or something so this guy gets some funding. First American at NYC shouldn't go unnoticed. Did CNN bother to mention his name?
Grinder type, gutted out a tough Grandma’s victory earlier this year in hot conditions when everyone else was falling apart. Probably deserves a bigger contract considering he beat Hicks and Klecker today and he’s toiling away in a shoe store somewhere in the Minneapolis suburbs.
Well, he has a new fan in me. Someone make some t-shirts or something so this guy gets some funding. First American at NYC shouldn't go unnoticed. Did CNN bother to mention his name?
Lol, no. Didn't mention Fiona O'Keefe, either, with new course AR.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
I saw him run sub 14 at the twin cities tracksmith 5k. Yesterday, when I saw that glorious head of hair breeze pass the finish line on my 120 pixel slovenian bootleg broadcast, I felt a sense of shame in not asking for an autograph back then!
I saw him run sub 14 at the twin cities tracksmith 5k. Yesterday, when I saw that glorious head of hair breeze pass the finish line on my 120 pixel slovenian bootleg broadcast, I felt a sense of shame in not asking for an autograph back then!
Haha when I saw that Frank Zappa lookalike join the chase pack I jumped off the couch! Making Minnesota proud.