LetsRun, Meet The Most Interesting Man in Running - Chris Zablocki

Dude, will you get off this thing with the military. No one cares. You want me to bring up the real man thing again?Loved the article. Is Blocki faster than max king? Who would win in a 10k with bibs pinned to bare chests?

MikeFromBosotn55 wrote:

But let's just make it loud & clear this guy got a dishonorable discharge right? How else do you get out of the Marines in one month?

Bam. Let's start getting pompous and judgemental, when someone decides to leave (or is let go) from Best Buy at after a month. Who cares.Boston Mike, you make me sad. I guess ANYTHING a privileged person does with their life, will make you all mad? Because they were privileged? What made you this way?

edward teach wrote:

meh, maybe he was naive going in, but it clearly wasn't for him. We need to stop holding the armed forces in such high regard, like they guard the gates to heaven, its just another job.

Just maybe he might pull it off - Who Knows?

Yea, the 'rich brat factor' is kinda there but look at what he's done with his energy and talent. You don't have to be living in a rusted airstream trailer on a vacant lot to make your dreams a reality - even though we like those stories better. This guys got real guts, let's see if he can step it up yet another notch -

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!

peace frog wrote:

Loved the article!

You guys should do more articles like this. I love the stories of walk ons and journeymen who aren't the stars of the sport. They're often more interesting characters, too.

I second this! Great piece!

Fantastic read - thanks to JG.

Did you say DVR? Is it on TV?

Great read! Really rooting for this guy to have a huge break thru. What an interesting life he's lived thus far.

Obviously I have no idea about his training ( neither does he. haha ) but my official prediction is 2:13.49

MikeFromBosotn55 wrote:

Definitely not privileged the article mentioned he went to Xavier High School in CT....ooh let's look up how much that costs "Tuition for the 2015-2016 academic year will be $16,700."....Yeah sure he was paying those costs back then too. Your privileged twerps that think your so great for taking off a few years before following daddy's plans. Your not daredevils, just geeks that went to ivy league and spent a few years being "different". Rich Hipsters.

Yeah. Running 13 marathons in 12 months is typically something them lazy-ass spoiled rotten privileged kids do.

Whenever I hear about someone's "superhuman" ability to recover, I get skeptical.

Mike from Boston makes him mom microwave his bowl of ice cream before she serves it to him because he has sensitive teeth

blue collar ivy wrote:

Whenever I hear about someone's "superhuman" ability to recover, I get skeptical.

if someone is on drugs, my last guess would be Zablocki. Runs without a watch, doesn't really have set training, takes days off, hammers when he feels good. Most drug users are extremely interested in measuring their performance. We can't say for certain anyone is clean, but I wouldn't pick some guy who seems to pick his races on a whim (15th in Valencia isn't exactly getting him dough) as a likely doper

MikeFromBosotn55 wrote:

But let's just make it loud & clear this guy got a dishonorable discharge right? How else do you get out of the Marines in one month?

He was in OCS and it looks like he DOR'd (drop on request). Technically, he was not a Marine. Free spirits like Zablocki are not cut out for military careers.

Remember this scene when Louis Gossett is doing everything to get Richard Gere to DOR in "An Officer and a Gentleman"?

Wow this article takes me back, way back to the '70's when I too ran at Dartmouth and we did crazy crazy runs and other "stuff". Barry Harwick was a team mate and he was truly about the only sane focused runner. We over hammered every workout @ about 100mpw, partied way to much, studied the rest of the time but did get to D1 NCAA in 1976 as a team. The terrain around Hanover is amazing, Oak Hill as described is a fabulous roller coaster of trails. Maybe the only better place anywhere I have run extensively is Park City. It is not surprising the beautiful hilly location, the isolation, the intensity of Dartmouth has generated many fast "characters" such as Chris along with Bob Kempainen, Ben True(who was also an All American Nordic) , Abby D., Will G, and others. Chris Z clearly following in that heritage and chasing his dreams. Go Chris! Glad Vin L and now Barry is reigning in the wild horses... a bit. I am still at it, way slower but still enjoying my running and racing and writing about shoes and gear over at my site RoadTrailRun.

Gault is an excellent journalist.

Check out this posting at Keene State:

https://www.myinterfase.com/keene/Job/Detail/ZXJVYnBJejFaZDJKL0xtL3NrRFl3cmxOOEd0MGpOVmdzZTdoak9vSzg2OD01

"...the program is contractually non-binding. This is simply a summer internship and "try-out"..."

I did something like this between my junior and senior years of college. It's real OCS, just split over two summers. Completion of both halves will lead to a commission offer, which becomes binding if you accept. The recruiters were big on trying it out to see if you liked it. I didn't return for the second summer but know others who did. Different strokes for different folks.

This kid seems like he has some personality disorder or is at least on the Autism spectrum.

I hope he gets the help he needs.

MikeFromBosotn55 wrote:

Definitely not privileged the article mentioned he went to Xavier High School in CT....ooh let's look up how much that costs "Tuition for the 2015-2016 academic year will be $16,700."....Yeah sure he was paying those costs back then too. Your privileged twerps that think your so great for taking off a few years before following daddy's plans. Your not daredevils, just geeks that went to ivy league and spent a few years being "different". Rich Hipsters.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being privileged, you don't get to chose your parents or upbringing. I grew up underprivileged (very much so), but I worked really hard so that my kids would be privileged...that was the goal. I don't mean privileged as in spoiled brats, but to not be needing for the necessities and some of the nicer things in life.

re" "Tuition for the 2015-2016 academic year will be $16,700."

Btw, The average American cannot fathom paying nearly $17K a year for grade school.

fancy pants munger wrote:

This kid seems like he has some personality disorder or is at least on the Autism spectrum.

I hope he gets the help he needs.

Thought the same thing - the speech impediment, the professors remark on him not being obviously intelligent but rather complex, or whatever the quote was, and a few other things I don't remember from the article. - I read it yesterday. But, he does not need help. He is self-treating his personality with running. It's great. He might also have OCD, HADD.

Hilarious kid.. watch this interview

http://www.coxhub.com/articles/2013/05/chris-zablocki-wins-mens-marathon