1. How did you get started in running?
My elementary school hosted a 5k fun run every year and when I was in first or second grade my mom had me train for a week or two leading up to the race. I trained a little bit longer and ran a little faster every year for the remainder of my elementary school days. Then in middle school, I didn't make the soccer team so I joined cross country.
2. What do you tell people that don't get our sport of distance running?
I find that most people have a pretty good grasp of running and at least pretend to be interested when I tell them about it.
3. What are you current PR's?
800: 1:50
1500: 3:43
5000: 14:25
10k XC: 30:25
4. How do you manage being a college student with being a college distance runner?
For the most part, I don't have a problem balancing my school work with my training. Sometimes during midterms and finals periods some work will pile up, but I can count the number of times I've sacrificed sleep for school work on one hand. Running is a lot more rewarding to me than anything I have ever done in the classroom, so it doesn't make sense for me to ever really pick school over training.
5. Who are your favorite professional and/or college distance runner(s) past and/or present & why?
My favorite college distance runners have got to be all of my teammates at Columbia. I'm halfway through my fourth year with a lot of these guys and they are definitely the best people/training partners/friends I can imagine. In terms of professional runners, Delilah DiCrescenzo and Liam Boylan-Pett are both Columbia alums so I gotta support them. Erik van Ingen made a movie about me, so he's up there too.
6. Best or Worst thing about being a distance running?
The best thing is probably that I can binge eat pretty frequently and always have a run the next day where I can burn those calories off. Excessive eating is a big thing on our team, and my roommate Mike Murphy is the self-proclaimed best eater in the NCAA (he accepts all challenges via twitter @MikeMurphy672). If we didn't run, we would just be schlops.
7. Your Favorite Moment of your distance running career?
My favorite moment of my career has probably been placing second as a team at the NCAA Regional meet this year and auto-qualifying for NCAA's. I was sidelined with an injury last year and watched our guys qualify for nationals for the first time in program history. It was an awesome thing to watch, but it was also really hard to not be out there running with them. Being able to come back and qualify again this year (getting an auto bid this time) with all of my friends and teammates around to celebrate with afterwards was an awesome experience.
8. Goals for 2013?
I have a lot of goals for 2013. Breaking 4 minutes in the mile is definitely a big one. I'd like to qualify for my first NCAA meet as an individual, and just to be healthy and racing all year.
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