“I used to get really bummed after a bad race or a bad workout. Now I keep in perspective that some people don’t even get the opportunity to have any race, let alone a bad one. I am so thankful to be part of such a fun community that celebrates the fast and the slow, the pros and the leisure joggers, the old and the young, the new and the experienced. I am humbled by the hearts and legs of the people around me, both on my team and in this world.”
“What’s been the toughest part of the transition from high school running to college running?”
“Mostly the daily physical abuse from Tim Simon.”
[Tim Simon is one of his XC captains, and he actually appreciates Tim.]
“I threw up three times after the race today.”
“And I know you’ll run tomorrow. What’ll make you put in the miles tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll run tomorrow. Definitely. I have to push harder and not let it happen again.”
“This was about the time I started getting into cross-country. One morning, I was in Ohio staying at this hotel. And my mom gets up, and she’s been dieting and stuff, and she’s like, ‘I’m gonna go to the weight room, and I’m gonna walk on the treadmill. If you need me, I’ll be in there. I’ll just let you keep sleeping.’ Then I was like, ‘Wait, I’ll come with you.’ So I got up and ate breakfast at six in the morning. Right after I ate breakfast, I went to the workout room. And I thought there was going to be squats there, and I enjoy doing squats. … I get down there, it’s one of those corner machines—those things are confusing. I see a treadmill. I’m like, All right, whatever. My mom gets on a treadmill, she’s walking, I get on one, I start walking a bit. Mind you, my breakfast was 400 calories. I turned it up, I started running. Next thing I know it’s 10 minutes. Keep running, OK, now it’s 16 minutes. It’s 6:20 in the morning, and I’ve run two miles already. I keep running, and I run like five miles that morning, and it’s not even 6:40 yet. And I burned off 1,000 calories, and my breakfast was 400. So I went and had a second breakfast, and it tasted delicious.”
“I’ve started around 800 races and meets—cross-country and track. This is my 18th year. … When the meet is over, I don’t have to run to the locker room or my car. I’ve only had a few people tell me that my start was bad.”
“If you could give one piece of advice to high school cross-country runners, what would it be?”
“One? Ah, well, it’s important to know the course. And for the coaches, it’s important to know the rules.”
Hooray Run 