PROFILE OF RUNNER:
A. Name, age, city and state,
how long lived there?
Adrian Korosec, 41, Tucson, AZ, 4 years
B. Place of birth, where did you grow up, high
school, college, military, other?
Milwaukee, WI., Brookfield, WI., Marquette University HS, Regis Univeristy –
Undergrad, University of Denver – MBA with International Emphasis
C. Other than running – hobbies, interests,
pets, kids, current employment?
Rock climbing, skiing, mountaineering, tennis, canyoning. Pets – Our 4 chickens (Matilda, Ruby, Gidget,
Mrs Doubtfire), Tucson Racquet and Fitness Club
D. Favorite distance to run or race on trail and
on the road?
50 mile trail, Marathon road
E. Favorite race course or event?
Old Pueblo 50 Mile Endurance Run
F. Favorite Tucson area trail to train, run,
hike?
Sunset to Aspen(lower to upper) to Wilderness of Rock and back
G. Favorite vacation
destination?
The Italian Dolomites
H. Favorite post-race/run food, drink and
activity, ie. hot tub, ice cold river soak, etc?
Burgers, potato chips, Coke, beer. A nap.
I. Pet Peeves?
Rocky trails, arrogant people, bullies, current state of politics in the USA
and most other countries.
J. Current book you are reading or favorite
author?
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
K. Favorite quote or saying to live by?
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are
living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present” Lao Tzu
L. Person you look up to, emulate, hero?
My father, who passed away 10 years ago.
M. What has been your worst running injury?
Just a pulled hamstring…lucky so far.
N. If you could no longer run or lost the use of
your legs what sport or activity would you pursue?
Distance (open water) swimming, scuba
Interview:
TA: Adrian, thank you for taking time out of your
schedule to talk about your recent Leadville
100 finish.
Adrian: No problem at all. I’m happy to do this.
TA: You just finished your
first 100-mile race at Leadville. Before we talk about that I want you to tell
me about your past and what kind of influences you had in your early life that
led you to love the outdoors and the trails.
Adrian: Right from the beginning my family was always
doing outdoor activities. We lived in a suburb of Milwaukee; there were a lot of trees and
woods and places to go exploring. My father got us into camping. We had 80
acres of land in the country. We would dig ponds and have fires and barbeques,
clearing woods and growing grasses and a tree farm. I spent a lot of time
outdoors on the weekends with my family.
Then I started playing outdoor
sports. I liked soccer especially. I started before age 12 and played through
high school. I did some track and field but didn’t do much on the running side.
My coach put me in the shot-put and discus. Not sure what my coach was thinking.
TA: Just field events…no
running?
Adrian: Yeah, no running, but soccer got me there and
as far as outdoor life, early on we hiked and camped. Also did a lot of cross
country and downhill skiing. I got used to winters in Wisconsin
being cold but I enjoyed the winter in the mountains whether it was Colorado in the mountains or just cruising through the
woods on a cold snowy day in Wisconsin.
Adrian: I didn’t get into any endurance sports until
2008. We would ski for just a couple of hours.
TA: Did you get involved in
orienteering?
Adrian: No, but I was in Boy Scouts which helped me
learn to read a map and navigate with a compass. I haven’t caught onto the whole
GPS thing yet. I have a GPS watch and use it primarily to track mileage. I’m
still old school. I do a fair amount of backpacking where I use the map and
compass for route finding.
TA: So what led up to your
desire to start endurance events in 2008?
Adrian: I didn’t have anyone to start running with. I
didn’t have a mentor to suggest, “Hey, let’s go out running.” We did have dogs
though. We had two dogs. I had to start work at 6am so I would get up really
early to take the dogs for a walk. I needed to get quality miles instead of
quantity so I started running with the dogs. I would do 3 miles every morning
all year long; cold and dark to hot and humid.
TA: So you just picked the
idea up as a way to get exercise?
Adrian: Yeah, and so when I
started running more, I thought to myself…you know there’s some pretty cool
long events like trail running events I should look into. I was on the internet
learning about ultras. I kept this to myself; no one knew I was doing this. I
thought…this is going to be really cool…one day I’m going to run a 50-mile run.
I was thinking all of this at mile 2 of my daily 3-mile run.
TA: That’s very interesting.
All of this is while you were still in Wisconsin?
Adrian: I just started in 2007 and then we moved here
in 2008. Both dogs died around 2007. When dogs went away the running started
happening more and more.
TA: Were they old dogs?
Adrian: They were but the younger one died on a run
when it got hit by a car. It was a hit-and-run driver during the wintertime.
It’s a sad story, she was still a little bit alive and I had to carry her in my
arms through a snowy field and try and get her to the vet. It didn’t help, it
was very traumatic. It didn’t stop my running, but it did prevent me from
getting a dog again, the heartbreak is too much. The other one died from cancer
and old age.
TA: I asked because we had
two old dogs recently that died within 3 months of each other, both at the age
of 14. Since then we got two new dogs and started all over.
Adrian: I think Kirsten and I are almost at that
point. We don’t have children and she works from home so we’re at that point
where we can do that again.
TA: Running dogs are what we
needed. Cattle dogs and Border Collies just love to run and go hiking. So, when
you were in Wisconsin
did you do any of the trail runs or races up there?
Adrian: I did a few runs before Arizona. I started with a few 5Ks. I lived
in the Kettle Moraine area which is very hilly. I did the Glacial
Trail 50K. I decided to get off the road and on the trails and started to
believe I could run the longer distances. The first one I found was Glacial
Trail but I hadn’t run a marathon yet. So I signed up for a marathon after the
50K.
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| Adrian in his first career race being passed by an 8-year old. |
One thing that helped me get
more into trail running before the 50K was that I started running with a trail
group in Madison called Fat Thigh Thursdays, very much like the TTR group. They
ran together on Thursdays but on the weekend they have these longer runs like
50K and odd long distances. I did a couple 20-milers and really enjoyed it
TA: After you moved here in
2008 how long did it take you to realize there is such an extensive system of
trails here and the fact that there is a group that goes out and runs them
every year?
Adrian: We quit our work in Wisconsin
in 2008 and resolved to move to Arizona.
We took that year off and spent 3 months in South America traveling and
mountaineering in Patagonia. After that we did
the Pacific Crest Trail
from Mexico to Canada.
That took from April to September. Then we moved to Arizona. I went to the Running Shop and
asked where some local trails were that we could run. They introduced me to the
Phoneline Trail. I got connected with Lynda Hendricks and she suggested I talk
to Ross Zimmerman. I talked to Ross and told him about our PCT effort and he
thought I’d be ok. My first run was the Saguaro West Loop.
I picked up the schedule and
thought…Holy Cow, look at these runs, week after week, what about tapering and
recovery? At first I thought they were races and I ran them hard. Now I’ve
since change my attitude and realize that most of us run them slow enough that
we can enjoy them week after week. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still into
competition. If I see you two miles from the finish I’m going to try to hunt
you down. It makes it exciting.
TA: I have to ask you about
the PCT crossing. How did you plan that logistically?
Adrian: There are guide books available that detail
town stops. You try to plan a town stop every 5-10 days. So you’re basically
linking together 5-10 day backpacking trips. The trail crosses roads along the
way so you either have towns on the trail or up to 5-20 miles away. You get to
the road and hitchhike into town. Go to the grocery store and buy 5-10 days of
food and pack it up. Go to a restaurant and hotel and eat a ton and shower and
head out the next day and keep going.
If there aren’t good grocery
stores available you might stop at a hot springs
resort like Warner
Springs which is 5 days
travel of 100 miles at 20 miles per day. You mail supplies to that point ahead
of time. So you ship out 10 boxes and about halfway through the trail ship
another 10 boxes. A lot of people ship everything at the start and then realize
they are tired of the stuff they’ve been eating and end of throwing it away in
a hiker box for other people to take.
TA: That sounds like a whole
lot of camping?
Adrian: It’s a whole lot of 5-10 day backpacking trips.
Then you stay in town for two nights once in awhile for recovery time. There’s
whole lot of eating during this time because of calorie deficits.
Adrian: Yes, for sure. I think that will be about a
one month to 40-day hike. We like to through-hike rather than section-hike. We
both are pretty locked down in our careers so this will be a section-hike.
Maybe a plan of 3 two-week vacations over a couple of years.
TA: The Arizona Trail is
something I would like to do as well.
Adrian: It would be fun to try to maybe run it or
fast-pack it with a little help from friends along the way. I do like the
self-sustained version though because it’s much lower key. A lot of people that
try and run these long trails end up getting injured. I’m more into enjoying
the outdoors.
TA: A little more
well-rounded it sounds like. Ok, why did you pick Leadville as your first 100?
Adrian: First, we own a condo in Keystone so we had a
place to stay only 45 minutes away. Second, a good friend and pacer I had with
me, Billy, lives near Boulder.
Third, it’s a classic 100. It has a lot of name recognition and is well
supported. I read the book, Born To Run, so that was in my head. It’s a
legitimate 100; there are some good climbs and lot of flat running. It climbs
over two passes each way. I actually thought it would be a good beginner 100. I
stand by that it is a good 100 for first-timers. It’s very well run and
organized. It’s a pretty crowded 100 so you’re not going to get too lonely out
there. The aid stations are well organized; they’re really looking out for your
welfare. There’s also a lot of crew out there. It’s nice to feel like a
rockstar when everyone out there is cheering you on.
TA: Yeah, that is a great
race for crowd support, I was amazed. The majority of the race is over 10,000
feet elevation. Any worries going into the event about altitude?
 |
| One-way to turnaround |
Adrian: There was concern but I’ve had a lot of luck
at altitude. I’ve been to 22,000 feet without oxygen pretty easily but
experienced some headaches at the top. I lived in Colorado for 10 years and had a lot of
experience at altitude and never really affected me very much. Things can
happen at altitude that you never know are going to happen and very quickly. I
thought that training here in the mountains around Tucson from 7,500 to 9,200 feet I would be
good.
TA: Let’s talk about your
training in Tucson.
Adrian: I had a really good cardio base and endurance
level to start with. I had just done Ironman in Tempe last November. I had from then until
August to train. About two and half months beforehand is when I really started
amping up on specific training for Leadville. Very typical 100-mile training –
going up to Mt. Lemmon Saturday and
Sunday and camping overnight on top when I could. I would do 4-5 hours on
Saturday and 5-7 hours on Sunday.
TA: You chose to go a little
longer on your second day? That is the reverse of what you normally hear people
doing.
Adrian: Well I thought why not go a little longer the
next day while fatigued. I was a little more fatigued after a full week at my
job before going into the weekend. I play a lot of tennis by virtue of my job
when members are looking for someone to play against. So I play tennis four
times a week at about 2 hours per day. I ran between 5-15 miles at a time
during the week along the Rillito Path, junk miles. It got me used to running
tired and I knew at Leadville there would be a lot of flats where I needed to
learn to shuffle. That’s where I would practice my 10, 11, 12-minute miles. It
was really hard to run 10-minute miles in the beginning but then I was like…10-minute
mile pace is pretty fast when I slowed down to 11 and 12-minute miles.
So at the end of the week after
playing tennis on the hard surface courts I was sore. I would take it easy on Saturday and then do the longer run on Sunday. I did as many of the hilly rocky
trails as I could. I was doing obscure trails like Red Ridge going down to
Canada Del Oro and back up. I did Samaniego Ridge down and back. I was really
prepping for rocky hilly terrain which Leadville has some of that but not like Arizona. It was awesome
training. It seemed ridiculously easy to get up over Hope Pass
when the time came.
Adrian: It was a dream. I wasn’t going to push a time
on my first 100. That’s the innocence of doing a thing for the first time.
There’s no pressure. No one is expecting anything. Go enjoy it and then set a
goal the next time when you’re educated and know what’s going on. I didn’t want
to fail; there is so much unknown. The longest run I had done is a 50-miler.
TA: You don’t need to do a
longer run than that. Are you going to run 100 miles to train to run 100 miles?
Adrian: There’s still that whole unknown from 51-100,
the darkside. Just enjoy it and be in the moment. I was looking at the times for
25 hours and I needed to do a 15-minute mile average. I ended up at 15:53. Even
in all my training runs I wasn’t maintaining 15 minutes. So I knew it probably
wasn’t going to happen. No goals, total innocence, enjoy it and that’s exactly
what I did.
That was the fun thing about
doing the marathon for the first time and the 50K. It was all this big mythical
thing in your mind and impossible and now you’re doing it. I really believe
that the first time you do something you should really enjoy it.
TA: I’ve seen too many
people including myself, go out on their first 100-mile with this idea of a
goal pace and time. It’s a DNF waiting to happen. You have a great mentality.
Adrian: Nobody wants to be the guy with the wheels
coming off. That’s going to happen to some extent anyway. I didn’t want to be out
there suffering the last 25 miles. It’s hard enough as it is.
TA: Did you do most of your
training runs by yourself?
Adrian: Most of my running is done solitary. Recently
I started running with a buddy in the morning but generally speaking I was
solo.
TA: The reason I ask is
because I remember you saying you were going out at 2pm for some of these runs
and I’m thinking…I wonder what kind of lightning storms he’s encountering…Did
you see any cool stuff?
Adrian: Yeah, a lot of big lightning storms. I would
try to find a big grouping of Aspen trees and
try and hide-out. It was like shock and awe…Ke-kee-keee-Craaack – BOOOM!! It
was close. You had to run for cover. Every run that I did from June to the
beginning of August – 100% of my runs had rain. Probably 50% had lightning
storms. Sometimes I would move down to the road if I could when it got really
dangerous.
The scariest time was coming
back to the summit of Samaniego Ridge. It’s amazing how those storms come up.
First you hear the noise and see the clouds come up the valley and then the
mist comes in; almost like one of those zombie movies where the fog is rolling
in. This comes over the ridge, then the rain comes and then the lightning
comes. That’s when you hunker down. It added some excitement to the training
runs. I’m a mountaineer so I know how to judge an objective dangerous situation
that I have nothing to do with. I know when to bail, when to hide, and when to
keep moving. It was great, it was everywhere, truly shock and awe…BOOOOM!
Explosions all over the place and then it would move on and I would get moving
again.
Adrian: I saw my first bear in the Catalinas on the
Lower Aspen Trail; a nice big healthy black bear running up the trail and
stopping to turn and look at me. That was special. Very few snake sightings…maybe
two. I seen bobcats, coatimundi, and no mountain lions. Out of the major
mammals they are the last thing I want to see.
TA: I haven’t seen one
either. Talk about your crew’s perspective at Leadville?
Adrian: Kirsten had crewed at 50-milers before so she
had experience. My friend Billy has always been a runner but just recently
finished his first 50-mile at San Juan Solstice and did very well. He was
always faster and stronger than I was. I knew he would do well. He went 26
miles with me from mile 60 at Twin
Lakes to May Queen.
Kirsten brought me home from May Queen to the finish. It was fun running with
my wife. It’s good to have someone that loves and understands you. All pacers
kind of need to deal with their runner at that point no matter what their
relationship is but having your wife there; she was especially supportive.
TA: It was dark the whole
time running around the lake, right?
Adrian: It was. The sun was just rising as we came
into town. The peaks were just becoming pink. Just having two crew members was
a tough job for them. I really appreciate my crew for what they did. They were
either driving or running and it was difficult for them to catch any sleep. I’m
pretty self-sufficient and the aid stations are very well stocked. I think I
could do it by myself especially with drop bags. The advantage to having the
crew is that they supply mental support.
We could do these things by
ourselves but I saw some of these poor guys running alone at night without a
crew and they were struggling. I felt really bad for them because they didn’t
have that moral and mental support that I had.
TA: There is something to
that. I’m fairly self-sufficient as well but at both of my DNFs I had no pacer;
it’s especially hard overnight.
Adrian: Seeing everyone else’s crew definitely lends
to helping you gather energy as well. What I took from Leadville is that it
has a lot of history; the town and the run. Yeah, it has a lot of flair and
I’m not usually one for flair, and it has a lot of pomp and circumstance. The
thing has grown and it was sold off and now a multi-national conglomerate owns
it. But they still have some of the same people that started running it. The
pre-race meeting in that little gymnasium and the old mining town aspect of it;
it has that community feel to it. I really got into that.
That’s what I like about Old
Pueblo 50. It’s my favorite run because it’s totally local and all of our
friends our there. To me it is about the social aspect; it’s about people. Some
people argue that Leadville doesn’t have that but I would argue that it does
have that if you look deep enough and get under the skin.
TA: They let in almost an
unlimited number of runners. 800 show up on race day. I didn’t go to the start
line so I imagine it was a huge start. Outside of that, from a crew aspect I
couldn’t tell there were 800 runners out there.
Adrian: You get the feeling at the start especially
around the lake when you can see the endless string of lights. But it’s single
track and everyone is running too fast anyways. I wasn’t passing anyone; people
were passing me on occasion but nothing very different from a large TTR run
when everyone’s getting sorted out in the first 10 miles. Emotionally, my crew
was amazing. What a crew does for a runner in a 100 is very special.
Kirsten picked me up at May
Queen so she was driving the car alone from Twin Lakes
to meet us at Fish Hatchery and she took a nap. We ended up coming into Fish
Hatchery a lot earlier that I had anticipated. So she was napping in the truck
and I didn’t realize she was there so I was afraid that she may have gotten
lost or the car was broke down. On the way out of the aid station I borrowed a
phone and called her and woke her up. She was a 100-yards away. I told her were
going to May Queen and good luck finding the place. It’s dark out there. She
was upset she missed us but she needed sleep. This was going to be her longest
run ever and starting at 2am. She had a 32-hour day. So for them to come
through for me without hesitation or complaining or giving me any thought they
weren’t having a good time, that’s really cool.
TA: No issues for you staying
awake?
Adrian: No, I took some advice from Dallas after he did the Javalina 100. Staying
awake seems like the hardest part on these things. He suggested to ease off of
the caffeine before the race and don’t use any until later in the race. I quit
caffeine for about two weeks before the race and didn’t use any for the first
60 miles. I started getting tired right after May Queen. I started kicking
rocks and feeling lazy. I was too tired to look at gels and see if they had
caffeine plus I was tired of eating them anyway. It was a real chore to get
from 13 miles out to 4 miles left. Then it’s up the endless Boulevard but you
know you’re in and you’re going to finish.
I’ve learned that 26 hours
isn’t a long 100 in comparison to others. I think I like the events that are
less than 20 hours. You finish around midnight, enjoy a beer and a burger and
go to bed. I should just get really fast at 100s, like 17 hours.
TA: I agree, just get faster. That leads to my
next question. What kind of goals or ideas do you have for upcoming races? You
know, you are qualified to enter Hardrock now that you finished Leadville?
Adrian: I did not know that. I would entertain that.
That’s one of the toughest 100s. Being in Colorado I would put that on the list. I
don’t have anything planned now. I’m going to let that sit for awhile. I do
plan on doing Tucson Marathon so I’m getting back to speedwork. I want to
qualify for Boston
again. I like running at the marathon pace, around 7:15 miles. My PR is 3:14 so
I would like to run 3:09. My recovery from Leadville was very quick. The next
day I was playing 18 holes of golf riding a cart. I was bike riding two days
after and running within a week. I would also like to run a fast Old Pueblo in
March as well.
TA: You talked about completing
an Ironman. Do you still do a lot of cross-training?
Adrian: Since Ironman I have hardly been on the bike
or in the water. In my opinion cross-training is very beneficial. I was faster
when I was training for Ironman than I am now. I have a problem with finding
time to get everything done. I really like rock climbing at Cochise Stronghold
and the Catalinas so a lot of the weekends I’m choosing between getting my long
run in and going rock climbing. I do enjoy bicycling and doing the Shoot-out
for 2-4 hours. I get dropped after about 25 miles but I can hang for quite
awhile. The reason I started running in the first place was to get in shape for
mountaineering and to lose weight.
In Wisconsin there is a lot of eating and lot
of drinking. I was 185 pounds then and not in the best shape of my life. I was
getting fatter and smoking cigarettes so it wasn’t a good situation. Then we
moved and a lot changed. Pacific Crest Trail kicked things off and then moving
here and meeting TTR people and working at the Racquet Club has all really
helped my life out tremendously. TTR especially, every weekend there is
something to do.
TA: And if there isn’t
something on the TTR schedule then there is a race somewhere.
Adrian: I know and that reminds me I have to figure
out a rock climbing thing this weekend. It’s a balance issue, everyone has this
issue. I don’t rest enough and a lot of us have that because we are so driven.
If there’s a rest day that means I can go play tennis or I can go rock climbing
all day. That’s like a 7-hour endeavor with a big pack; that’s a rest day. So
your workout suffers the next day and then the recovery run after that becomes
a recovery walk. I could become a better runner but its picking and choosing
how you spend your time.
TA: You’re enjoying
yourself. It sounds to me like your activities are pretty well-rounded.
Adrian: We’re never going to be the fastest. Some
people are but I’ll never be the fastest so I want to go out and enjoy it as
quick as I can but enjoy it.
TA: Well we are in our 40s…
Adrian: So we have age-group aspirations…Hahahaha!
Unfortunately that age-group of 40-45 year olds are still in pretty decent
shape.
TA: I just changed to the
45-49 year age-group and it doesn’t make a difference. Those same guys just
move on with you.
Adrian: I’m learning how to pick and choose my races
carefully. My buddies wanted me to go to the Goblin
Valley 50K which is in Utah. It’s like a small
TTR run with about 30 people. I was first male of the whole thing so my award
says First Place Finisher – Male, but the actual winner was a woman. That’s the
closest I’ve come to winning a race but there is a triathlon up in Show Low,
The Deuces Wild, which I placed second in my age group the last two years.
That’s my favorite triathlon because, “Hey, I can win my age group.”
TA: You never know whose
going to show up. I believe the key is to stay healthy.
Adrian: Maybe all my activities have helped me not
have very many injuries. My worst problem was a tight hamstring.
TA: Sounds like you could
give some advice to a newer runner to this sport?
Adrian: I would say to start slow. Find an enjoyable
3-mile trail loop or route and run that until you feel comfortable. Get used to
the footing and the distance. Increase your mileage by 10% every week. Don’t
make big jumps in mileage. Don’t get overzealous. Find enjoyment in the moment.
TA: What advice have you
received from other people that you have most benefitted from?
Adrian: Remain in the present. Don’t get too far
ahead of yourself. I found myself at Twin
Lakes thinking about the
distance to Fish Hatchery and then to Sugarloaf and then to May Queen and then
the finish. My god it’s a long way. Don’t think too far ahead; it’s an undue
stressor.
TA: Very good advice. Well
here we are at the last question. What is the meaning of life?
Adrian: I want to enjoy a simple life. Look at what
we have here…you can go out in the mountains and not deal with the problems
that many people in other places have to deal with. Don’t focus on material
possessions. I did that for a long time and luckily have been able to scale-down.
Enjoy the people that you are friends with and find happiness in life. I want
to be happy in my life.
TA: Well said, it looks like
you have it dialed in. Thanks again for your time Adrian.
Adrian: You’re welcome. It was a great discussion.
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