Carol Jelich

Carol Jelich of Easton will tell you she’s not a runner. She’s a walker. Most importantly, she is a finisher. Carol has a growing medal collection that could rival anyone’s. Plus, she is everybody’s friend and travels to races she is not doing simply to cheer for others.

What led you to begin your fitness journey?
I was obese most of my life. I tried diets and exercise from time to time but always slipped back to my couch potato ways, until one day my nephew posted a photo on Facebook from a visit. It was a wakeup call. The following January, in 2012, I joined a local “Biggest Loser” challenge and started losing weight. I went on to do several nutrition/workout challenges with a local fit camp called “Workout Like a Girl” (now the Eastern Shore Performance Center) and over the next several years, I lost a little over 100 pounds. I have gained some of that back but nowhere near what it was. I credit the running with that. 

In recent years, I have been running with the Talbot Humane “Run Unleashed” charity team. The coaches select a half marathon for the team to do. We train together for the race and race funds for the shelter. This year we did the Coastal Delaware Run Fest half.

Also, challenges really keep me going. I can’t resist them, especially if there is swag. I do a lot of virtual races, but also in recent years have enjoyed the Tour de Salisbury challenges. I have really enjoyed visiting places on the shore I have not been to before, and also getting to know some of the runners on the lower shore, and following their adventures on social media (side note — including you, Michelle!)

When did you start doing 5K and other running events? Did you run when you were younger?
When I was in my 20s, I lost some weight, joined a gym, and decided I would try running. I bought a new pair of sneakers (this was before the day of running shoes), and went out for a jog. By the time I got back, not very long, my shins hurt and I decided it wasn’t for me. Thirty-some years later, I decided it was.

As part of my weight loss journey, I started walking every day and eventually tried the Couch to 5K program. As an older runner (I was 61 when I started), and with some breath issues, I continue to use run-walk intervals. I did my first 5K at Adkins Arboretum, and another at Horn Point. So my first two races were trail races! My first 10K was the Across the Bay bridge run in 2014. I wasn’t sure I could make it up the bridge, but by 2015, I did it again and enjoyed it. I then started to do half marathons. My first was the Delaware Running Festival. Next, I traveled to Indiana for the ShePower half.  I selected it because not only did it have my mantra on the shirts – She believed she could so she did – but it also had my spirit animal, the dragonfly, symbol of transformation.  Also, it has the best medal. In 2017, I did my one and only marathon, the Rehoboth Seashore Marathon. That was awesome. It took me a little over 7 hours to finish and they were already taking down the cones, but the pink ladies were waiting and ran me to the finish line. I will always remember this!  It took a few months to recover. Since then I have returned for the Rehoboth half every year except for Covid.

You had a big goal you just completed. Can you tell us about that? ( I thought it was a 5K in every county in Maryland but then you did 28 5Ks and there are only 23 counties?)
I have done a few destination races in other states – our neighbors Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, plus Tennessee, Oregon, Indiana — and if I were younge,r I think I would join the 50 state half marathon club. But the logistics and travel, not to mention budget, are beyond me now. Luckily, I have a Facebook friend Christie who is doing it and has awesome posts as she travels to each state and shares the features of each race and location. I love seeing her posts and enjoying the different races that way. She inspired me to try my own challenge that seemed doable in a year – to do a 5K in every Maryland County and Baltimore. Since Delaware only has 3 counties and I was already signed up for two races there, I added Delaware, and then added DC since it is right here. So, 28 county 5Ks in 2025.  

I started on January 1, 2025, in Wicomico County with the Hot Chocolate 5K, and ended on November 1 in Worcester County with the Ocean City Run Fest 5K. My most challenging weekend was October 11-12, when I drove 5 hours to Garrett County for a Saturday race, and then from there 4 hours back to St. Mary’s County for a Sunday race. The coolest thing was doing the DC 5K in July on the eastern end of the C&O Canal towpath, and then in September I did the Allegany County 5K on the western end of the towpath in Cumberland. (https://www.canaltrust.org/plan/co-canal-towpath/)  A side benefit – I learned a lot about Maryland geography this year.

I had fun with a wooden “Maryland” board from Etsy. Each time I got home from a race, I added a red dot to the location on the board. I added an Etsy Delaware piece, and carved a little DC piece and glued it in. We put cup hooks on the bottom to hang the medals. There were several races that didn’t have medals, so I made my own.  

You have traveled all over Maryland! Is there any race that really stands out for you, a favorite for one reason or another?
My favorite overall race is the Rehoboth Seashore half. Due to easy logistics, race director is a sweetie, plenty of time for slow me to finish, not too crowded, at the beach, great afterparty, etc.  

One race I have really fond memories of is the two times I did the Naylor Mill 7K, On the Bacon Trail. The first time, I was super slow and Colette Outten and Sabine Boggs stayed with me and swept me in as a thunderstorm broke overhead. The volunteers in the pouring rain put their arms up for a finish line, and some members of my running club, Kent Island Running Group, had waited for me and jumped out of their cars to cheer my finish. Wow! The next year, I trained with Kate James and cut almost half an hour off my time. I fell a few times, but finished in time to get bacon. Epic! 

If you mean of the 5Ks I did this year, they each had something interesting about them. I would say I really enjoyed the Cumberland race due to being on the towpath, and the Garrett County race due to some hills but not too many and a pretty course around a lake. The Cecil County 5K was in a vineyard, that was fun. The Blue Crab Bolt 5K in Seneca Creek Park, Montgomery County was a beautiful course. Way hilly and I was last, so the sweep and I spent some quality time together. But when I finished, they called me over for an age group award. That is a bonus of racing at my age – last in the race but still can be first in the age group. I think my most favorite of the 5Ks was the OC Run Fest 5K. Two friends surprised me by showing up to cheer. It was my last one, so I got to put my final red dot on the map. And I was first of 8 people in my age group, a rare thing. 

Did you ever doubt you would finish?
Do you mean the 5K challenge?  Yes. The only Garrett County 5K I could find wasn’t posted till late in the summer, so I wasn’t sure I would have one there. I thought I might have to just go and do it on my own. The St. Mary’s County race was almost rained out. They said they would pull us from the course if the causeway at the park got flooded from the heavy rain that day. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

Do you mean, ever? Yes. In the last year, I have pulled myself from 2 trail races in at Fair Hill in Elkton. That is really hard to take and I immediately signed up for them again next year. I hope I can get myself to train up for them. I am 75 now, so 2026 could be my last race year and I want to go out running. I have been thinking this every year for the last 5 years, so we will see what happens.