Mammoth Track Club chat draws 200
Aspiring runners get the chance to hear their heroes.
Approximately 200 high school runners gathered outside of the old Bank of America, behind Footloose, on Wednesday evening for a Mammoth Track Club Summer Chat. The event, hosted by Footloose Sports and Track Club sponsor Asics, featured elite distance runners Deena Kastor, Ryan Hall, and Sara Hall, as well as Mammoth Track Club athletes Gabe Proctor, Josphat Boit, Josh Cox, Bria Wetsch, Lauren Jimison, and Shadrack Biwott. (For more about the Halls, see Evans story on p.12).
Mammoth Track Club Coach Andrew Kastor introduced the assembled runners to a pizza-munching crowd, before opening the mic to questions from the audience. The first question, which elicited laughs: How much chocolate milk do you drink?
Another question: What do you think about when training?
Josh Cox, the American record holder in the 50k (31 mile), answered, “When I’m really pushing and driving, I think about the why; why I’m training; what I’m working towards … I’ll be praying a lot.”
Q: What made you decide to be a professional runner?
“I would do this even if they didn’t pay me to do this,” answered American half marathon record-holder Ryan Hall. “I hated running before I started running,” he said. Then, at age 13, Hall said he was looking over Big Bear Lake “and I get this crazy idea to run around the lake.” The 15-mile run was “super slow and painful,” Hall said, but left him feeling he had found his purpose. “I’ve been pursuing that calling ever since.”
Q: What do you do when you’re under pressure?
Bronze medalist and American record holder in the marathon Deena Kastor admitted that she had tried and failed to be many things before becoming a runner, including a soccer and softball player, and ice skater. At age 11, she went for a run, and “it’s been a love affair since then,” she said.
“I’ve never been nervous in a race,” Kastor said. “I call [nervousness] excitement; excitement to show what I’ve been working for. Making that switch in your mind, it becomes something more positive that can fuel you instead of hindering you.”
Q: What’s the biggest difference between high school and professional running?
“You don’t get paid in high school,” quipped elite middle distance runner Sara Hall. “I used to actually train up here with friends, and I look back on my high school career and I’m really glad I had fun,” she added.
Hall said that being part of a team changes after high school. “As a professional, you’re not scoring as a team … This is an opportunity for you [in high school] to be part of a true team. Enjoy it while you can.”
Q: What do you do when you start to doubt yourself?
Becky Wade, the third fastest American woman marathoner under age 25, called doubt a “natural response … You have to find a way mentally to change the situation.” Wade said she plays a game with herself, taking a run mile by mile, or half mile by half mile, to make it to the finish.
“I think it’s easiest to doubt yourself when you’re thinking about results and outcomes, and you’re not totally invested in the moment,” she said. “Appreciate where you are in the moment and give your best then.”
Andrew Kastor ended the event with a pitch to the high school runners to participate in this year’s 31st annual Footloose Charthouse 5k/10k on Sunday, August 3. The loop course starts and finishes at Mammoth Creek Park. Registration is still open, with student team discounts available for 10 or more athletes. For more information, email Monica Prelle at mprelle@mac.com.
