Kitt soars in Hartford 5km race

Rising junior Jon Kittredge had a race that was a “work of art” the other night in Hartford. Kitt won the CFA Society Hartford Corporate 5K on Thursday night. His official time was 15:55 and according to various measurements the course may have been long, with his extrapolated time perhaps being 15:34. No matter. Either way, it’s a PR, and that’s great news for him (and for us) entering preseason with big goals. Kitt opted to forgo his Marist singlet in favor of this way-too-cool Bob Ross singlet. For those who don’t know who Bob Ross was (oddly enough, I do!), he had a cult following on PBS for his painting for beginners classes. With the magic of YouTube, he has a renewed audience for his quirky, mesmerizing way of teaching us how to paint. As I type this, on my back porch, next to me are a few Bob Ross-inspired paintings that my kids did while watching him last year. The “Bob Ross phase” was definitely one of many during the pandemic. In fact! Some of the Bob Ross-inspired paintings actually hung in my daughter’s dorm room during her freshman year up there.

Anyway, according to Strava and to Kitt’s post-race texts, his mile splits were 4:44 (yikes! downhill!), 5:12, 5:06. His dad Chuck was there to cheer him on. And! He ran into/met Marist Running Alum Jillian (Corley) Winterkorn. Jillian lives in Shelton, Conn., now. She was first in her age group (30-39), third in the women’s race and 14^th overall in a strong time of 20:06 (6:30 pace). Very cool when different generations of Marist Running can connect like that.