5 Questions with Diego Estrada

Diego Estrada celebrates the
A Standard at Payton Jordan
(photo: TrackAndFieldPhoto)

Today we have 5 Questions with a newly minted Olympian. After running under the Olympic A Standard in the 10,000 meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational this Sunday at Stanford, he announced his decision to run the London Olympiad for his native Mexico.

Diego Estrada has been on of the most consistent runners in the NCAA over the past few years. His 27:32.90 in the 10,000 meters is just the latest of his many accomplishments on the track and trails. His decision to run for Mexico in the 2012 has sparked much debate of late, but his range of 1:52.16, 3:55.46 (Mile), 7:44.29 and 13:26.94 has always been rock solid. Follow Diego on Twitter here.

5 Questions with Diego Estrada

1. Writing About Running: Hitting that Olympic A Standard is huge, especially in this point in the season. Did you execute the way you wanted at Payton Jordan?

Diego Estrada: It was a perfect night, I followed Coach Heins instructions, making sure I kept myself under control as much as possible and take over when I felt it was needed.

2. Writing About Running: Everyone is abuzz about you're running for Mexico in the Olympics. How hard was it to make that decision?

Diego Estrada: You know I am very prideful about my roots and have always wanted to become an Olympian some day to show my parent that their sacrifices for me had paid off. I have two countries and love both of them. I come from community of dreamers in Salinas, California, people who work in the fields to better their children’s lives. I simply wanted to represent my community as best as possible. It wasn’t hard, but it did take a lot of thinking to make that decision. I am dealing with countries, not colleges, so the decision was permanent. I am proud to be a Mexican-American!

3. Writing About Running: You're passion for the sport is electric. What drives you?

Estrada at NCAA Indoors
(photo: TrackAndFieldPhoto)

Diego Estrada: My parents, their perseverance to give their children a better life, even if it meant saying goodbye to their family and friends. I try to do thing to the best of my ability and not waste the opportunity, because every opportunity is a blessing.

4. Writing About Running: You're in one of the most famed running capitals, Flagstaff. What makes that place special?

Diego Estrada: The support, the people in Flagstaff are so friendly and helpful. Every runner here is out to better themselves yet they are here to help each other too.

5. Writing About Running: With you redshirting this year, what's on the schedule for the foreseeable future?

Diego Estrada: The work is done, know I am going back to training for the next 2 months and racing a 1500 and a 5k in Europe in July. Focusing on august 4th from now on.

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Road to Houston: 5 Questions with Olympic Trials competitor, Danny Mercado

Danny Mercado traded Oregon green for Adidas green

Today, we were lucky enough to have 5 Questions with one of the fledgling male stars on the road circuit on his "Road to Houston." We'll have a few more of these features over the holidays as we lead up to the big day on January 14, 2012.

Danny Mercado has been a standout ever since high school. From duels with his brother and AJ Acosta at Mt. Sac, to winning the 2007 Cross Country Team Championship with Oregon, Mercado has been running well for almost a decade. Recently, he moved from Eugene to Flagstaff, to train with McMillan Elite, and his first points of order were to qualifying for the Olympic Trials and winning a USATF Club Cross Country Team Championship. Follow him on Twitter here.

5 Questions with Danny Mercado

1. Writing About Running: How'd you hook up with McMillan Elite?

Danny Mercado: In it's simplest explanation (because the story is kind of long), I didn't really know what I wanted to do after college, although I definitely still wanted to run.  I knew it was a long shot, but I contacted Nick Arciniaga and Jordan Horn to see if Greg was willing to add another member to the team.  Initially, Greg didn't want to add any more people; he was good with what he had.  But after tireless nagging from the guys, Greg decided to give me a shot.  From there, everything just clicked.

Diego and Danny Mercado at Oregon

2. Writing About Running: Coming from a strong program like Oregon, how's the transition been to your "new team?" and what's it like being away from your brother, Diego, for the first time?

Danny Mercado: The transition has been really good.  I didn't know how my body was going to react to 7000 ft. altitude, but so far it's been just fine.  I would say this team's different from my Oregon team in that people are just a bit more relaxed, which is actually expected when all of them have graduated and the running is what they're focusing on.  I feel that here, there isn't as much pressure to perform under a time constraint, which helps me a lot.  Being away from Diego, as well as the rest of my former Oregon teammates, was a bit tough the first couple weeks; I was definitely feeling really lonely.  But it went away over time when the training started to feel really exciting for me.  I'll talk to Diego from time to time on the phone and tell him what's going on, or to get some advice.  He really helped me those first two to three weeks.

3. Writing About Running: How do you like training in Flagstaff?

Danny Mercado: Training in Flagstaff is amazing.  You really could have everything you want out there, from the nice weather to the altitude.  There are seemingly endless amounts of trails by where I live, and the whole atmosphere of it just seems incredibly relaxed.  There isn't much to do, but that's alright with me.  I didn't come out here to see the nightlife.  That's really helped me with my running.  I'm too easily distracted, so I knew this was the place for me.  If I was going to make running my focus, I needed it to be a place where I would run and not do much else.  Flagstaff fits the bill perfectly.

Hitting the qualifier

4. Writing About Running: When you ran 1:04:02 at the Woodrow Wilson Half to qualify (for the trials), was the goal to make the trials your Marathon debut?

Danny Mercado: With that half marathon, I think we had that idea in the back of our minds (Greg and I), but we weren't too sure whether I'd be able to do it.  After around 3 weeks of training, period, it started to creep a little more in there.  The week before we left for Virginia, it was definitely a goal, although it was more about the $1300 bonus for me.  Once the race started, I felt surprisingly comfortable, like I had been doing half marathon races for years.  Once I hit ten miles, I knew I had it, so from that point on, I was really enjoying myself.  It was really satisfying to come across the finish line and see the time you were looking for.

5. Writing About Running: What is your goal for the trials?

Danny Mercado: Right now, my goal for the Trials is to have a solid race and see who I can beat.  The more I thought about training for this, the more it made sense.  I don't know how many Olympic Marathon Trials I have in my body, so I might as well take advantage of one I could sneak in early.  My training is going well, but right now I don't have any idea of what I could do at the distance, which is a bit alarming, but also really exciting.

Stay tuned for more articles this week and continued coverage leading up to the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston, TX on January 14, 2012.

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