Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski A.J. Kelly of Altoona (508) checks out his competition before running to victory on Saturday morning.

On and off the course, A.J. Kelly is very familiar with the ups and downs of competitive road racing. In 2007, Kelly missed the qualifying time for the United States Olympic men’s marathon team by 44 seconds. In 2008, he underwent surgery for torn cartilage in his left hip in August, and didn’t run a single mile from March through November of that year. The 27-year-old Kelly is back on the road and fully recovered in 2009, as evidenced by his overall championship in the annual Hollidaysburg Area YMCA July 4 15-Kilometer Road Race held Saturday. Kelly won his third overall championship in the event by finishing the 9.3-mile race, which starts at the Mishler Theater and winds through Altoona before finishing at the Heritage Plaza, with a time of 53:04 — a full 25 seconds ahead of last year’s overall champion, Ryan Walsh. Gina McGee, 44, of Johnstown, was the overall 15K women’s champion with a time of 1:01:08. Jim Spisak of Johnstown won the overall championship in the 5K (3.