“Long Live TME was built off of this idea, inspired by a lot of the things the guys went through, particularly Brogan…no matter how dead you are, but you still know there’s a true champion inside you, that’s where this comes from.”
“As soon as people stop buying the stuff, I’ll stop making it, but it’s just so powerful when someone can put something on with a logo or a message that really resonates with them and that’s something that is truly special.”
“I want to be doing those xc races, but I’ve had hiccups along the way…really getting your feet back under you is another thing. I’m running again and I’m getting the miles in again but my mindset is ready to rip by indoor season.”
“After I tore my soleous, I was writing to Coach Hunter to say I was fine. I was straight up lying to myself, I wanted to get it done so badly.”
“Coach Hunter has been so slow with my comeback to make sure I have my feet back under me. I know if I can run every day pain free, then I’m ready to hit the session.”
“With Tom Schwartz, he didn’t ever care about that. If I was lying about it, it didn’t matter. The communications just didn’t work.”
“We never really had that care from our old coach, at some point you realise you can’t burden your teammates all the time…you need that type of coach to be honest with you about when to do things and when not to.”
“There’s so many people in the sport who live in their bubbles, the same stuff on social media with the same fans and the same people liking it. We were in that bubble and it popped in numerous ways. Internally and externally both changing the coach and the stuff online with the hate from people that used to be supporters.”
“During those hard times, the worst thing was how bad we were running, it wasn’t the instagram comments or anything, it was the running. We were running like shit, we were getting out kicked and it just mounted and spiralled. We knew we had to make a change and we knew it wasn’t working anymore. We weren’t having fun despite the platform we had built.”
“Through adversity, through hate, you grow as a person. It might hurt but you get a perspective you didn’t have before. It made us look at ourselves and think what are we doing right and wrong. I grew more this past year than when I was running my best. In that year my PRs were getting better and I was getting confident but true growth comes from when you’re facing adversity. Long term it’s going to keep us well-set for the future.”
“Other teams have big PR firms back them and telling them what to say. It works, that’s why you pay them. Our PR firm was our team. I do wish we had spoken up for ourselves more but at the time the Olympics was bearing down on us…if I spent my energy on anything other than running 13:13 I would have fallen flat on my face. Yeah I didn’t make it, but I got f**king close.”
“It’s not one race that will define you, if you want it to be a failure, it will always be a failure. If I’d looked at not making All-American in XC as a failure, I might never have made it professional.”
“NCAA XC is incredible, I’m not sure there is any other race that I will love more…I have always thought this is the pinnacle of our sport. The depth these days…the men’s race, there is like 8 guys who deserve to be NCAA XC champion, from Mantz, Kiptoo to Hicks.”
“That’s the beauty of XC, it’s a tough course, it’s 10k, there’s no faking it.”
“My top 3 for NCAA XC is: 3. Hicks, 2. “The Campbell Kid”, 1. Mantz”.
“I love those NAU boys, I’m definitely going to be cheering for them for the team title.”
“This sport is great, that’s why I’ve been so passionate with Tinman because I think the sport just deserves so much better.”
“Maybe one day a kid will come up to me after kicking my ass in a race and say dude you were my hero growing up. That’s when I can walk off into the sunset and know I left the sport in a better place than when I found it.”
“If you watch our videos, you know we’re just goofy kids at heart. It’s important to make fans feel like equals because I remember what it was like asking Bernard Lagat for a photo.”
“You know, the thing is just be yourself, if you do that you’ll never look back and think ah man why did I say that or why did I do that.”
“At the heart of what we do at Tinman is try and create a story. If people can get behind the athletes and their personality and an extra 1000 people tune in and give a sh*t about it or draw inspiration from it or some kids want to showcase it, that makes a difference and there’s a snowball effect. I see tonnes of younger kids starting YouTube channels, whether it was us or Spencer who inspired them, who knows, just to be a catalyst means something. I don’t want to be a bystander, I don’t want to go through the motions and just showing up to races and running fast. I always feel like the sport deserves so much more. People talk about doing stuff all the time and when I retire, I hope the first thing they say isn’t just a list of my PRs but that I started something and that I left the sport better than I found it. I’m constantly inspired by other people. Not to be a bystander.”
“You got to be able to laugh at yourself. The meditation thing, like it’s funny.”
“Craig is joining Tinman.”
“Pete Julian has some crazy stories about his time in Nepal. He has so much depth to him. When we were changing coaches, we made lists about who we would want as a coach and Pete was definitely right at the top of my list. I have so much respect for him.”