Have you ever met an elite runner? What were they like?

Centro at Stanford last year. Awesome, super chill guy who I was lucky enough to get a selfie with after he ran his 800. Wished him good luck at trials this year - in retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

I also met Michael Norman at Arcadia last year. Super nice guy, but that shouldn't be news to anyone - he is probably one of the nicest and most down to earth sprinters on the circuit right now.

Others I’ve interviewed that I enjoyed with Michigan connections. Ben Flanagan, Kevin Hanson, Ron Warhurst, Nick Willis, Kevin Sullivan, Morgan Beadlescomb.

Like normal people lol. Know a Canadian distance runner who was cool. Used to know a US trials decathlete and sprinter. Super hot and cool. Just like anyone tho she had her ups and downs. One sibling died from fentanyl and the other was an addict for years.

Never knew any that would take public $h!ts during a marathon or outside a HS track unfortunately tho lol

Emile Cairess lives in the same area as me (not sure if he still does, but this was a year or two ago).

I saw him sprint up one of the steepest hills I've been on. It was the fastest I've ever seen anyone run in person. I probably couldn't sprint down the hill as fast as he sprinted up it. It was a moment I'll never forget.

Met Rupp at Chicago Marathon 2018 (where he ran 2:06 right before Haglunds surgery). It was Sunday night after his race, he couldn’t have been friendlier, took a picture etc.

I had no idea how famous ultrarunners were until I saw a champion who shall remain nameless, walk through a crowd of people in Manhattan. The women fanned themselves and looked weak in the knees. Some began hopping up and down on their toes. One grabbed me by the arm. “Oh my,” she breathed, “He’s so toned and ripped… I hear he runs 100 miles per week… I want to do things to him.” Then she swooned but was caught by local police on the scene for crowd control.

The ultra runner? He walked through the crowd wearing sunglasses, a white suit coat with no shirt, teal slacks, and loafers with no socks. I’ve never seen someone looks so cool.

Every elite runner I have ever met has been completely boring.

I run with a former elite runner a few times/week. Just a normal dude.

I've met quite a few and they were always friendly accommodating. Jerry Kiernan, Katie McGregor come to mind because they were both very friendly and talkative. Katie was especially kind to me (then) teenage daughter encouraging her.

At Chicago in 2023 I was in the ADP group and we got to see a lot of the real elites over the fence as we waited for them to hit the start line before us. We interacted as a group for a couple min waiting to get to the start.

Some I remember:

Des was cool and wishing us good luck and gave us high 5s, Kiptum was quiet, confident but a little friendly. Rupp had an entourage of like 20-30 ppl and was so different than everyone else. He was the only elite with a 'team' with him in the elite zone.

I’ve met many elite runners over the years and almost always found them to be very normal people, happy to chat at least briefly, and pleased to be recognized (especially outside of running events where its unsurprising they would be recognized). My favorite interaction was meeting Centro on the infield of the BU track after he’d raced in the elite section of the mile at one of BU’s large invitational meets. We spoke about miling and he seemed genuinely interested in my experience (I’m a masters runner). We posed for a photo and I confessed that I regularly watched the video of the 1500 final at the 2016 Olympics for inspiration. He laughed and said (gesturing toward the woman who had taken our photo) “my girlfriend doesn’t even know who won”. Only after I walked away did I realize who had taken the photo.

Posting anonymously here in the rare case this gets back to me. I've been fortunate enough to meet a large number of elite runners over the last couple years. They really are just like any other group of people, some are incredibly nice (Grace Hartman, Jojo Jourdon and Jessica Hull come to my mind) while some are absolute pieces of work (Jesse Hamlin is the first name I think of here). There is a huge variety of personalities, but most tend to be more friendly than your average person.

I walked into the TC marathon expo one year with Jared Ward and, presumably, his coach. They were talking about the Berlin marathon where Kipchoge ran with the insoles coming out of his shoes. Seemed pretty normal to me.

If you really get to know and talk, not a brief chat at an airport, you realize how aware they are of their circumstances. They all know the clock is ticking, and they only have X number of years/months left before it's over.

That if very different for 99% of us in our careers. While the day to day life of a professional track athlete would be awesome, there is pressure and there is also a sense of being left behind. Their peers are starting jobs, families, etc.. they are still running track meets, going to practice twice a day, watching their diet like crazy.

If you spend the years from age 22-30 runnin' n racin' your friends and peer group are almost a full decade ahead of you in terms of "life". *

*The counter argument to that is most people spend those years just Effin around and finding out that they hate whatever career they thought they wanted when they majored in X, and they hate that they just went and married whoever they happened to be dating at the end of college. So they really are no better off. Might as well have been traveling the world and racing and training.

I've met many, over the years, having conversations ranging from casual to in-depth with Alan Webb, Jim Ryun, Marc Davis, Keira D'Amato, Deena Castor, Grete Waitz, Bill Rodgers, and quite a few more, through different avenues of crossing paths, including my own business services and running events. I can say that all of them, without exception, have been very nice, and happy to discuss anything that I brought up regarding their running careers and experiences.

I live in Mammoth and run on the track all the time. It seems like most runners come through here at some point. Most I just see and don't talk to, and I didn't include them, but conversations do occasionally happen when we see each other daily.

Deena - Very nice and friendly. Always a smile. By the way, I never cease to enjoy watching her destroy high school boys with big egos who are up their training. They have no idea who she is. She will be doing 800s or longer, and she will blow right by the kids doing 400s (and are not acclimated). The look on their faces when a 50 year old women goes by them is priceless.

Shalane - If you catch her after a run, she is very friendly. Before a run, she is all business.

Dez - We were the only two on the track and she started talking to me. Just small talk, but she was very friendly.

Shelby - Super intense while training, but before and after she was very friendly.

Quigley - I saw her swimming at the public pool across the street from the track and had a lot of "don't talk to me" body language going on. I also saw her be very kind to a little girl learning to swim at the pool.

Meb - Very friendly.

Jagger - Wasn't interested in a conversation, but always said hi.

Pappas - Always seemed just a bit off.

There are so many more, but most I don't interact with. When runners are training in Mammoth, I think we are seeing the best versions of them. They tend to be in good moods.

I've met and skied and/or ran with a lot of elite xc skiers including Jessie Diggins, Alayna Sonnesyn, Caitlin and Brian Gregg, Gus Schumacher, and Zak Ketterson. All super normal, approachable, welcoming and passionate about skiing. All very good runners too.

I've met a few.

Alberto was coaching some of his guys{Goucher} at the Nike headquarters and he graciously allowed me to run on the track . "Stay out of lane one !"

Centro and his sister ran in the summer program Dr Scott Eden put on in Annapolis. I ran in a different group at same time. You could see greatness even back then.

I met Mike Scannell and we ran much of the Annapolis ten mile course one day. Fabulous guy.

Saw Lydiard speak at U of Maryland on his last speaking tour.

Met Galen in Eugene when he was at Pre Classic years ago. Very nice guy

Met a few at Boston who were signing autographs on posters.

This is some wonderful memories, thanks for posting. What a group ... hadn't heard some of these names in awhile.