5 Questions with Tim Jeffreys, filmmaker of "The 41st Day" (Ryan Hall Film)

Tim Jeffreys

Today we have 5 Questions with a fellow North Carolinian and a fellow "film student," who has an exciting project in the works that offers fans a chance to fly to Flagstaff and spend a day with Ryan Hall. Running, dinner and just hanging out. What a cool concept!

Tim Jeffreys is a runner and a film maker. If you haven't heard of the new Ryan Hall film yet, you're one of the few. The Kickstarter page for "The 41st Day" launched a mere three days ago and has already hit the funding goal of $30,000, but there are still plenty of chances to get involved! Follow Tim on Twitter and check out the Kickstarter page to see out some of the incredible fan packages that are available to help support the film.

5 Questions with Tim Jeffreys

1. Writing About Running: Your first foray into running films was "the TRIALS" series for McMillan Elite. How'd that come about and what's your background in film making?

Tim Jeffreys: I graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2010 with a honors degree in Math, so my background is about as far away from film as possible. After starting to do videos for McMillan Elite last year, I found a passion for film that needed to be cultivated. I proceeded to essentially go to "film school." I read everything about movies and watched all the films I could find. The director of photography for our project, Matt Conner, has more knowledge about films than anyone I've ever met. We've worked together to try and develop a unique style for "The 41st Day" that has elements from all of our favorite films.

2. Writing About Running: What is your favorite documentary and why?

Tim Jeffreys: My favorite documentary, hands down, is "Man on Wire." Everything about that film is perfect. Documentaries are all about telling a story and no one has done it better than they did. It was the only film to win the Jury Prize, Audience Award (at Sundance) and an Oscar in the same year. The protagonist, Philippe Petit, is one of the most compelling personalities I've ever seen in a film.

Watch the trailer for "the TRIALS" here

3. Writing About Running: How'd the plan for the Ryan Hall film come together?

Tim Jeffreys: After "the TRIALS" was coming to a close, I was trying to figure out what my next film project was going to be. I wanted to do something that, as a running fan, I would want to see and be interested in more than anything else. Ryan Hall is someone who I've followed closely for a few years and one of the most interesting athletes in the sport. So, in December, I went for it. I pitched the idea to his agent Ray Flynn, he was very receptive to it, and then it progressed from there. Once Ryan made the team, we started following him, and have continued to do so ever since.

4. Writing About Running: The initial response to the Kickstarter project has been incredible. What made you decide to go this route for funding?

Tim Jeffreys: At of the time of this writing, we just hit our goal, so first I want to thank everyone who donated to the project. Kickstarter was something that was in the back of my mind for a while. It made sense to launch the film and subsequently launch Kickstarter, so that fans who are excited and drawn to the film have a place to get involved. This film is literally happening because of our fans and that is a beautiful thing. I want to build a community around this project. If people are invested in the film, they take an ownership and sense of pride surrounding it that would not otherwise be possible.

Watch the teaser for "The 41st Day" here

5. Writing About Running: The kind of documentary you are doing requires a lot of time spent with Ryan. Will this be a "warts and all" affair and how has the shooting gone thus far?

Tim Jeffreys: Filming thus far has gone quite well. We have a total of seven months to capture all the footage of Ryan we can get. Obviously, I want to acquire as much footage as possible, while still having the integration into Ryan's life come naturally. Up to this point, we've filmed mostly workouts and interviews, but we are at a mutual level of trust (at about two months in) that is going to allow us to start spending protracted amounts of time with him.

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Thanks to our sponsor, 14 Minutes, the Alberto Salazar autobiography, for sponsoring the blog this week. I'll be reviewing it very soon! If you're interested in sponsoring writing about running (and other great sites like TrackFocus, Track Superfan, Paul Merca and the House of Run podcast) in the future, check out The Relay Network.

5 Questions with the Gate River Run Elite Athlete Coordinator, Richard Fannin

Today we have 5 Questions with the brains behind the first big United States Road Race (save the Marathon Trials) of the year and it is this Saturday in Jacksonville, FL. The Gate River Run 15k has a long history of being a target race for many American Elites before the start of Marathon season. We'll do a race preview later in the week, but today we were lucky to do an interview with the Elite Athlete Coordinator of the Gate River Run, Mr. Richard Fannin.

Richard Fannin is a self-described "running junkie," father of 5, native of Jacksonvile, Florida and coordinator of elite athletes for The Gate River Run, the US 15k Championship Road Race. The race will celebrate it's 35th running this year. I met Richard at his excellent post-race party at the Marathon Trials and his passion for the sport and it's athletes runs deep. Whether you are an elite or a hobby jogger like myself, I highly recommend making the trip down to Jacksonville to run the Gate River Run at some point in your life.

5 Questions with Richard Fannin

1. Writing About Running: What is your role with the race - and how did you get involved?

Richard Fannin: Doug Alred and his wife Jane are the co-race directors - and since 2009, my specific job responsibity is the coordinator of the elite athletes for the race. My father, along with a small group from the Jacksonville Track Club, founded the race in 1978, and I have had a vested interest in continuing his legacy with my involvement. In the late 70's and early 80's, I used to sit down with my dad with a stack of Runner's World magazines and Track and Field News lists, and compile our recruiting lists for the race. 30 years later, I am still doing the same thing.

Photo of lead pack from inaugural Gate River Run
(then known as River Run 15,000) in 1978 ..
L to R .. Benji Durden, Bill Rodgers, Barry Brown,
Chris Stewart, Jerome Drayton and Ken Misner 

2. Writing About Running: What changes did you make when you took over?

Richard Fannin: I joke that I was "already starting on 3rd base" as we already had one of the greatest fields - if not the greatest - in American roadracing when I started. But one objective I had was to try to make the field even deeper. In 2009, we started our first competitive team competition - known as "The Tenbroeck Cup" - named after John Tenbroeck, a tireless volunteer for the track club who had passed away the previous year. Our team competition has a separate $20,000 prize structure - on top of the individual prize money. It has been successful beyond our wildest dreams, drawing teams such as Team USA Minnesota, McMillan Elite, Bay Area Track Club - and others. It has indeed made our fields deeper than ever ... in 2009, we had 13 women run under 52 minutes. Last year, we had 8 men under 44:00 and 21 under 45:00.

3. Writing About Running: Who are the top competitiors this year?

Richard Fannin: Mo Trafeh - who won in 2009, and 2010, is back - and going for the "threepeat". He has run exactly 42:58 each of the last 2 years - the 4th and 5th fastest times in the history of the race. He certainly looks to be the class of the field. We have another 15-16 men that could make it very interesting: Fasil Bizuneh, who always runs well here. Bobby Mack, who won the USATF cross country title last month. Scott Smith, who just ran a 63:18 half in Houston. Then another handful of young guys such as Nick Arciniaga, Sean Houseworth, Christo Landry, Jimmy Grabow, Matt Llano, Ben Bruce, and Tim Ritchie. Antonio Vega is also back from injury, running his first race in nearly 2 years. Rounding out the challengers are Sergio Reyes, Zach Hine, Mike Sayenko, Danny Mercado and Justin Young.

The women's race is very intruiging; former champions (and veterans) Katie McGregor and Blake Russell are running. Magdalena Lewy-Boulet is running as well. But some of the toughest challengers will be some women that are running our race for the first time. Molly Huddle, the American Record holder for 5,000 meters (14:44) is making a rare road appearance, and has to be considered a favorite. Janet Cherobon-Bawcom, who just was cleared as a US competitor in September, won all 3 races she ran on the circuit last fall, won the USATF road title for 2011, and just placed 5th - with a 2:29 - in The Olympic Trials Marathon. Adriana Nelson, another runner recently granted US citizenship, is running as well. There are a whole host of young challengers behind this group. Maegan Krifchin, who ran a brilliant 71:04 in the Philadelphia Half-Marathon last fall, 2:29 marathober Clara Grant, Meghan Peyton, Sarah Porter, Lindsey Scherf, Alisha Wiliams, Kathy Newberry, and Emily Brown round out a deep, deep women's field.

Richard Fannin (2nd from right) on the awards
stage with McMillan Elite in 2011

4. Writing About Running: What changes have you made to the "Equalizer Race"?

Richard Fannin: For the last 8 years, we have started the elite women with a head start over the men - with the overall winner receiving an extra $5,000. For the first 6 years, the "headstart" was 5 minutes - basically the split between the men's and women's American Records (both set on our course). We have changed the rules to the rolling average of the actual split the prior 3 years - rounded up or down to the nearest minute. This year, for the first time - the split will be 7 minutes. I feel the "bogey" for men is 43:00 and for the women it is 50:00. I think the real story this year is - can the women hold off the men ? It has only happened once in 8 years. If you look at the Twin Cities 10 mile championship last fall, which uses a similar format, the split was 46 seconds per mile (Mo Trafeh and Janet Cherobon). An equal split over 15k would be 6:53. So I think it will be very, very close.

5. Writing About Running: What differentiates your race from the other top US road races?

Richard Fannin: I think mother nature is really on our side. March in Florida is typically sunny and beautiful. Many of these runners - who train in often snowy winters in Minneapolis, Flagstaff, and Boulder, et al. - relish the opportunity to come to a "spring break" type of setting (Author's Note: I ran the GRR during my grad school spring break week in 2010). Also, the fact that we really showcase the Americans. Not to take anything away from some of the fine races that award prize money to foreigners, but we really go out of our way to showcase and put the spotlight on America's best every spring. Lastly, we really make it a point to show them all some good old-fashioned "southern hospitality" while they are here. We put them up in the host hotel for 3 nights, have a nice elite pasta dinner with a guest speaker on Friday night, and the race director hosts a dinner is his backyard on Saturday night. It really is a 4 day "happening". Tune in at 8:20am Saturday to watch live on RunnerSpace. It should be quite a show!

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Thanks to our new sponsor, RaceSplitter, for sponsoring the blog this week. If you're interested in sponsoring writing about running (and other great sites like TrackFocus, Track Superfan, Paul Merca and the House of Run podcast) in the future, check out The Relay Network.

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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The Run Down: Brie Felnagle and Jon Grey win USATF National Club Cross Country Championships

Former Tar Heel (and current Adidas runner), Brie Felnagle, ran a very strong last 2k yesterday to win the 2011 USATF National Club Cross Country Women's Championship in Seattle, Washington. Felnagle, who now trains with her former high school coach, Matt Ellis, in nearby Tacoma, WA, broke away from a strong group that contained runner-up and Division II national champion, Neely Spence, Brooks' Katie Follett and NYAC's Julie Culley. Her time for the 6k course was 19:54, 4 seconds ahead of Spence. Team Rogue Elite, out of Austin, TX, won the Women's club championship.

On the Men's side, former William and Mary standout (and now Team USA Minnesota member), Jon Grey, ran away from the field early to take the 10k title in 29:38. Last year's winner, Aaron Braun, was the runner-up in 29:48, and led McMillan Elite, out of Flagstaff, AZ, to a repeat club championship. A surprise late entry was new pro, Matt Centrowitz, who ran a very strong fourth. In his post-race interview, Centro said he'll be transitioning out of base training to getting ready for the indoor season soon. Also somewhat of a surprise was Trevor Dunbar, who recently transferred to the University of Oregon (from Portland). He finished fifth, just behind Centro, but didn't mention anything about his transfer in his post-race interview. Touchy subject? He ran with his former state championship team from his sophomore year of high school. Pretty cool.

Full men's results are here and watch the men's race by clicking here.

Full women's results are here and watch the women's race by clicking here.

More information (including Masters results) is located at the USATF page here

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