In his first six months blogging about the Twin Cities running scene, Minnesota runner Chad Austin interviewed over 25 local athletes about their passion for the sport. Those interviews are posted on Austin's blog, Running Minnesota, along with links to articles for additional reading on our favorite hometown athletes. In early May, his site had accumulated over 15,000 hits—advertised only by word of mouth. Here’s what Austin had to say about his site.
What is main goal of your blog? What do you cover?
The main goal is to get the best runners around to tell me their secrets. I’m interested in covering how they got involved with the sport, their achievements, setbacks, training, goals, philosophy and any other interesting nuggets that I can dig up.
When and why did you start it?
I actually started blogging 2 years ago in an effort to write about my training, as well as all the thoughts that flow through my head while running. One of the bloggers I was following started a website called eliterunning.com. She features links to nearly every running-related article that’s written and sprinkles in interviews with runners throughout the country. It’s a great site, but it’s also overwhelming. That led to the idea of creating a similar site that just focuses on the Minnesota running scene. However, since there aren't a lot of articles written on Minnesota running, I focus mainly on interviews.
How do you pick the people you interview?
I started out by just making a list of about 100 runners that I know, or at least know of, who I thought would be interesting to interview. To get the ball rolling, I started by interviewing a guy I train with and two of his friends. Then I moved on to a guy I went to college with. From there, those people, along with some of the readers started recommending other people to interview.
When I first started the site I really thought I’d be limited to just local age-group runners. However, after about six interviews, things just started to snowball. I started interviewing Olympic Trials qualifiers, a Team USA Minnesota runner, a running pioneer from the ‘70s, a couple of college All-Americans, the husband of an elite runner, and so on. I’ve been amazed by how receptive the interviewees have been. They seem more excited to be interviewed than I am to interview them.
The only real criteria when picking who I'm going to interview is “Do they have something interesting going on that I'm aware of?” It makes for better interview questions if I have some idea about their history, recent race results, goals, dreams, etc.
Who were the most interesting people to interview?
Not to sound politically correct, but they’ve all been great. Right now I’m looking at the list of people I’ve interviewed and I’m really flabbergasted. I’ve only been doing this for 6 or 7 months, but there are already over 25 incredible people that I’ve interviewed.
With that said, I’ll mention three interviews that come to mind; 1) Michael Reneau because he had just qualified for his first Olympic Trials Marathon (something his father did 40 years ago) and he also announced he was moving to Michigan to train with the Brooks-Hansons Distance Project, 2) Matt Gabrielson because he’s humble, knows he’s blessed to be able to run for a living and doesn’t take it for granted, and 3) Steve Hoag because I’m intrigued with the history of running in Minnesota and he was one of the pioneers.
What have you learned from interviewing so many local runners?
We're all different and there are many different approaches to training that lead to success, however, they all include hard work. But while that hard work is designed to lead to PRs and victories, that's not what running is all about. It's about competing against yourself, pushing your physical and mental limits, while developing incredible friendships along the way.
What is your history, present and future with running?
I followed my dad out the door when I was 10 years old and I’ve been at it (for the most part) for the last 27 years. After high school, I spent 4 years in the navy and didn’t do a lot of running. Being a non-traditional student, I decided to go out for the cross-country team at UW-Eau Claire, more as a way of meeting people, than anything else. That’s where I rediscovered my love of running.
Currently, I like to tease myself with the thought that I can still chase down my college PRs. More reasonably, finding new race distances is about the only way I’m going to set PRs. Right now I’m more intrigued by the marathon than anything else. In addition to running, I'm presently writing a variety of articles for the Minnesota Distance Runners Association's newsletter.
I'm not sure what the future holds, but I can all but guarantee that running will be a part of it. It's consumed nearly three quarters of my life and I don't see it going away anytime soon.
What is your favorite race?
My favorite local race is the Human Race 8K. After hibernating all winter, people come out of the woodwork for this race. It’s really the first time of the year when you get to see runners you haven’t seen since October or November. That alone creates a real buzz of excitement around this race. In addition, it's really the first race of the year that lets me see how my fitness has survived the winter.
I also enjoy the whole Grandma’s Marathon atmosphere. I grew up about an hour east of Duluth and my dad would run Grandma’s every year. Going there now and running the race myself brings back lots of fond childhood memories, like seeing Dick Beardsley's sub-2:10 and seeing my dad break 3-hours and qualify for the Boston Marathon.
What are your PRs?
During my college years, I ran 9:40 (3K), 16:50 (5K), 28:10 (8K), 34:57(10K) and 1:20:21 (half marathon). After college, running took a back seat to finding a job, starting a career, going to graduate school, etc. Running suffered and I got frustrated trying to compare all my races to what I ran in college. So when I turned 30-years old, I started a new list of post-30 PRs; 18:14 (5K), 29:05 (8K), 37:32 (10K), 1:17:57 (20K), 1:22:16 (half marathon), 2:58:10 (marathon), and 14:30 (Ironman).
What are your running goals for this year and long term?
This year I’d like to set all new post-30 PRs, but I’m mainly focused on the marathon. I think I've been in sub-2:55 shape in recent years, but I've never put it together on race day. I plan on changing that this year. In addition to time goals, I'd like to meet at least one new person at every race this year.
I don't know if it's realistic or not, but long term, I'd like to break 2:50 in the marathon someday. That was the open standard to qualify for Boston in the '80s and I'd like to think I can compare to that. More realistically, now that I'm getting older, I'm more concerned with running as a lifestyle, staying fit, and the camaraderie associated with the sport.
Do you have any future plans for the blog?
I’d like to add some advertising and start collecting subscription fees, so I can quit my day job. Seriously, I’m happy with what I’m doing and how the blog has been received within the running community. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback, which makes me want to keep the momentum going and continue to shed light on the people that help make the Twin Cities (and Minnesota) one of the best running communities in the country. While I'm happy with the number of people I've interviewed so far, it's not even a drop in the bucket when you consider all the talented runners in our great state.
Quote of the day;
“The perfect marathon is like the perfect wave, and every marathoner keeps looking for it.” – Dr. George Sheehan
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