Road Racer Joe Klecker Speaks Before US Half Marathon Champs in Atlanta: “My half marathon in Houston, definitely left me wanting quite a bit more.”

The Atlanta Track Club is hosting the USATF Half-Marathon Championships this Sunday, March 2 (fields here), as part of the Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon, and not only is $20,000 on the line for the winners, but the top three in each race will earn their way onto Team USA for the World Road Running Championships in San Diego in September.

One of the headliners of the men’s field is Joe Klecker. Klecker, an inaugural member of the OAC and the first OAC member to make the US Olympic team, was a track runner until this year when he made his half marathon debut in Houston with an  18th place finish in 61:06, after there had been prerace talk of him going after Ryan Hall’s American record of 59:43. Klecker has wasted no time in returning to the roads and the half after Houston, and in the interview below believes his future is on the roads and in the marathon.

Allison Mercer, a LetsRun.com Supporters Club member, conducted the special edition LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast with Joe which you can listen to in the player below, here on your favorite podcast app, or read the transcript edited for clarity.

Mercer, a Penn grad and passionate sports journalist of over 15 years, is an accomplished ultrarunner, earning a bronze for Team USA at the 2024 100K World Championships and holding the American masters record in the 50-mile distance. A true running nerd and director of the FKT (Fastest Known Time) website, she thrives on endurance challenges and sharing the sport’s stories.

LRC: Welcome everyone to the LetsRun Track Talk podcast. I am joined with Joe Klecker. How’s it going, Joe?

Joe Klecker: Going pretty good.

LRC: You getting excited? You have a big weekend coming up with the US Half Champs.

Klecker: I’m very excited. My half marathon in Houston definitely left me wanting quite a bit more. So it’s nice that this one came up so quickly to get back out on the roads.

LRC: Speaking of Houston, do you have some thoughts? It’s been about a month since Houston. 

Conner Mantz, Joe Klecker, Morgan Pearson (l-r) before Houston

Klecker: Obviously I wanted quite a bit more going into that race, but at the same time, I’d never run a half marathon, so I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. But since the race I’ve had a lot of time to reflect both on just the race itself and then kind of the preparation going in and what we wanted to do differently heading into Atlanta. So I would say my biggest takeaway was just kind of how hard the race got from the first step. I think that I was never in the race that I wanted to be in. I wanted to be up competing at the front of the race, and I just didn’t expect it to go out so hard like it did.

But it was a great experience to learn that, and to see what it takes to go race hard from the very front at the beginning. So I think in the six weeks between the two races, I definitely wanted to put in a little bit more high intensity work. We kind of did some more 10K type workouts just to feel like we’re kind of covering both ends of that spectrum from getting stronger to race 13 miles, but also realizing that you’re gonna have miles in the race where you’re running in the 4:20s and you can’t just be strong. That’s a pretty fast pace. So we definitely had to touch on some of that faster work a little bit more. And we went down to Scottsdale, so we had a few weeks down there. So it was a good opportunity to touch on some of that faster work.

LRC: Was the US Half Championships always in the plan or did it just depend on how Houston went?

Klecker: So the original plan was Houston and then doubling back at half champs just because, for the main reason that it’s the selection event for the World Road Running Championship [in San Diego]. That’s an event that really excited me and we kind of had to put this one on the calendar. I think initially Dathan [Ritzenhein] didn’t really think of this race, but then once we found out it was the selection event, we put it on the calendar. So these two races have been the plan all along. And then, after this, we’re just gonna kind of see where we’re at, how it goes, what seems like the next logical move.

LRC: So if you do make the team, will you still compete at The Ten? I saw it was just announced today that you were part of it.

Klecker: That’s TBD. I think that I don’t wanna look too far beyond Sunday. I have a lot put into Sunday. I really want it to go well. After Houston, I’m very hungry to get back on the roads and so I’d love to go race at The Ten. I’d love to qualify, get that world standard, and then be able to go run the track championship. But at the end of the day, I think we got to assess how Sunday goes. Like if it goes very, very well, then maybe we feel confident that we can drop down to the track. If it goes not as we plan, I think we need to keep retuning and refining what we’re doing to get better and keep learning this new skill that is road racing.

LRC: During your build for Houston, you had training partners such as your fellow OAC [members] with Morgan McDonald and also Morgan Pearson. Were you able to train with others [for this buildup]? I know everyone went to Scottsdale, but with different events and everything [was it possible]?

Klecker: Our team obviously is primarily on the track. Obviously we have Helen [Obiri] and then myself moving to the roads and we had Morgan McDonald running the half, but we’re primarily on the track. So that’s actually been the nice thing that dropping down and doing a little bit more 5K, 10K work, I’m able to line up with the bulk of our team a little bit more than I would while doing just pure half marathon work. It lined up a little bit. They are obviously racing more frequently during this indoor season, so it didn’t line up perfectly, but I was able to hop in with them a bit and, yeah, it’s just really nice to have those training partners and especially when you’re not feeling super speedy coming off the half marathon. It’s nice to have people who are in very good 5K shape that can kind of pull you along to some good workouts and give you some confidence on that aspect of training.

LRC: Did you participate in any double threshold? I heard that was on a big topic on the Coffee Club podcast.

Klecker after making the 2020 US Olympic Team at 10,000 (Kevin Morris photo)

Klecker: No, I didn’t. And it’s a little bit by design. I think that they’re getting ready for a track season trying to maintain their strength while increasing the intensity of their workouts. I’m more getting ready for the roads and I think that I need to learn and train my body to handle 10, 12 mile sessions, as I transition towards the marathon. So it’s not to say that I’ll never do double threshold sessions, but where we’re at right now in my buildup, it’s just about training the body to handle those longer single sessions.

LRC: Now speaking of speed, when Yared [Nuguse] set the world record, did you draw inspiration from that?

Klecker: That was pretty special. I think that record now, it’s been kind of the third year in a row that they’ve chased after that and gotten extremely close. So to see him go and get it was just, it’s not something that surprised me because I knew he could do it, but it’s something that I know meant a lot to Yared and meant a lot to even Dathan and Kelsey [Quinn]. Now that it’s the third time they’ve gone for it. So it was just, it was really nice to see, and I know it’s just been a ton of hard work and I think that if that record evaded him for a third time in a row, I think that it’d be maybe hard to go chase it a fourth time, but to see him go get it was just a really, really cool moment.

LRC: As the more seasoned vet of OAC, what has it been to be the leader of the team? With so many young athletes coming on board with Ky [Robinson], Dylan [Jacobs], and them performing at such a high level

Klecker: I think that I take a lot of responsibility being one of the founding members of the team. I think that I’m responsible for, as are the other veterans on the team, but kind of establishing the culture that we want on our team. Obviously, when we bring on someone like Ky or Dylan, we know they’re gonna be great athletes and we know them as people and they’re great people, but when you come to a new team, you gotta learn the system, learn the culture, and see how you fit in. I felt a lot of responsibility when those guys come in to set a good example for them, help integrate them with the team, and it wasn’t a hard thing to do. They’re great people, great runners, and they’re running amazing. But I think the best thing for me, as a veteran on the team, it’s been a lot of fresh energy. Like you bring in these guys straight outta college and Dylan a few years removed from college, but they just have a good energy. They’re very excited to be there. And not that we’re not, but it’s just a fun new energy to have around.

LRC: And speaking of influence, your parents are no strangers to the roads. What kind of advice and guidance have they given you as you’ve taken onto the roads? 

Klecker hugs his parents at 2021 US Olympic Trials (Kevin Morris photo)

Klecker: They’ve been definitely excited to see me go to the roads. I think when I was racing in Houston, my mom was very excited ’cause that’s where she qualified for the Olympic team. So it’s a bit of a full circle moment, a bit to go back to some of these cities where she had such memorable races. But I think a lot of the advice they give me is similar to stuff that they would tell me on the track. I think that they wanna see me be happy, they wanna see me be successful, they obviously care about me most as a person and performance aside, they understand the emotional highs and lows of this sport. And I think that’s where they offer the most advice and where they’re the most supportive is realizing that, yeah, if I have a bad workout or if I have an injury pop up, it’s not just missing a race. You have a lot of emotional energy tied into it and they understand those lows. That is really nice because a lot of people don’t, and to have parents who understand that is a huge, huge plus.

LRC: Did you always think you were gonna go to the roads after the track?

Klecker: I did, I actually thought there was a chance I’d go to the roads a bit earlier than I did, but I kind of kept finding success on the track and we kept getting closer to goals that we had and felt like it was still good to be running on the track. , I was getting into Diamond Leagues, I was competing well at Diamond Leagues, and when you’re doing that and you’re on that circuit, it’s very fun and it’s hard to wanna pull away from that when you’re seemingly in your prime. I think when I got injured a year ago and had to miss the trials for Paris and not able to compete at the Olympics, I think that was kind of a moment where we had to decide what we wanted to do moving forward. Do we go back to the track primarily or do we start making this road transition? And it just seemed like the right time. I’m 28, still in my prime. I feel young. I feel like I got a lot ahead of me, whether I was on the track or the roads, but I think that the roads is always something we knew we wanted to do. And so it kind of just felt like the right time to make that move.

LRC: Also making their debut on the roads is Woody Kincaid [at the NYC Half]. What do you think he can do in the half marathon?

Klecker: Yeah, I think he’ll be pretty great. I think a lot of the 10K is very similar to the half marathon, and so I would expect him to do very well. It’d be fun if he was in Atlanta, but you know, the New York City Half Marathon is another great race, and so that’s one I considered as well. But with the excitement about running at the World Half Marathon Champs, I chose this one, but, when you’re fit and when you want to go race, it’s hard to see one of your competitors line up, like in New York. I want to go race there as well. But Dathan’s kind of pulling the reins on that. But no, I think he’ll do great. He’s had a very consistent couple years improving on the track every year. And I’m sure the half in New York will go very well for him.

LRC: Do you know if he considered coming to Atlanta to race the half champs?

Klecker: I don’t. I don’t know exactly what his plans are for the year, but I’m assuming he already has the standard in the 10K, so he might have had a bit of an open book this indoor season to do what excited him and so you know that race must have just been New York. And if he doesn’t care as much about running at World Road Running Championships, then maybe there’s not as much of a reason to come to Atlanta.

LRC: Now one thing that I don’t know if you’ve noticed about road running is a lot of ’em love to carb load. Have you been making any pizzas or breads to get ready for Atlanta?

Klecker: I’m pretty big into sourdough and wood fire pizza. Honestly, in Scottsdale we didn’t have the pizza oven down there, so I’ve been missing that a little bit. But I’m hoping to get back on that a little bit more now that the weather’s nice. But no, I haven’t been making pizza for a few weeks since we were at camp.

LRC: Yeah, hopefully you can make a celebration pie after Sunday.

Klecker: That would be nice.

LRC: Well, thank you so much for joining and good luck on Sunday.

Klecker: Thank you.

Want our preview podcast breaking down the US Half Marathon fields? It will come out Friday, but only to LetsRun.com Supporters Club members. Join our club today and get all the LetsRun.com podcasts and content.