Q + A with AUSTIN WEAVER

Interviewed by Dave Milner 04.30.07

Nashville native, Austin Weaver, was the overall winner of the 2007 Country Music Half-Marathon, marking the first time a Tennessean has won the event. Running with the elite men's marathon until the two races diverged, the 23-year-old clocked a speedy 69 minutes, 18 seconds. His time was particularly impressive given that it was his first ever race longer than 10 miles, and a tight hamstring forced him to slow considerably in the last two miles.

A stand-out runner while prepping at Franklin Road Acadamy, Weaver, following in the footsteps of older sister Keely (who went on to be an NCAA All-American over 10,000m while at Belmont), won eight individual State titles. He went on to run collegiately for Notre Dame, where he struggled with injuries, constantly having to prove himself to make the traveling seven on a top-25 nationally-ranked team. After graduating in 2006, Weaver discovered he could use a fifth year of NCAA eligibility running for Vanderbilt University, while pursuing his MBA at the Owen School of Business.

Weaver is engaged to Belmont runner, Lauren Williams, who was a State cross-country champion while at David Lipscomb High. TR caught up with him three days after the Country Music Half-Marathon as he nursed his hamstring back to health.

 

TR: How and when did you get started running competitively? (Was your sister an early influence? Are/were your parents runners?)

AW: My sister, Keely, was a huge influence. I never thought about running, other than the 100m dash at field day, until she ran track and cross country. It was so exciting seeing her compete at tha level that I got very interested in the sport as I entered middle school.

TR: Do you remember your first ever race?

AW: It was a 1.5 mile cross country race at CPA, and I was in the 6th grade. I started off in the middle of the pack and just started passing people until I finished in second place. To my surprise I was the first person on our team, and so it was really exciting.

TR: As a high schooler at Franklin Road Academy you racked up 8 individual state titles. Was there one State victory in particular of which you were most proud?

AW: My favorite state championship was when FRA had a miracle day my junior year in cross-country and upset Chattanooga Christian for the state title. Winning individually without a team title actually felt pretty empty.

TR: What were your HS PRs?

AW: I ran 4:28.6 for 1600 and 9:40.3 for 3200

TR: You attend college at Notre Dame? What other schools did you consider and what tilted the scales in ND's favor? Did you get any scholarship $$ at ND, or did you walk on?

AW: I went on official visits to Princeton, Yale and Georgetown as well. I really liked the spiritual, athletic and academic mix that only Notre Dame offered. I did not get any money.

TR: What did you study at Notre Dame?

AW: I double-majored in Finance and Theology

TR: As a freshman for the Fightin' Irish, you clocked a 26:10 effort over 8K at the Bronco Open, and clocked a PR in the mile indoors (4:23.55). Your best performance over 10,000 meters was a 32:03 clocking. Pretty solid progress, but probably not the jump you hoped to make going from high school to college. Do you feel like you struggled to adapt?

AW: I was so mad for most of my freshman year. I didn't know what the future was going to hold, and it was a confusing point in my life. I got hurt in the earlywinter and redshirted indoors, but I bounced back and felt like I was getting into good shape. I mean, I ran PRs in practice, but wasn't getting the opportunity to get in good races. Added to that frustration, it was really tough being away from Lauren, whom I'd been dating since the previous May.

TR: As a sophomore you staked a greater claim for a spot on the traveling team at Notre Dame, finishing 18th at the National Catholic Championship in a time of 25:47, but still fell shy of making the top seven in the post-season. You ran well throughout the track season lowering your 3,000m PR indoors at the Notre Dame Invite (8:37.47) and then breaching the 15-minute barrier in the 5,000 meters at the Meyo Invitational, running 14:59.04. You clocked 4:00.87 for 1500m, and also placed 9th in the Big East 10,0000, clocking a PR of 31:16.68. That was obviously more of a breakthrough year for you. What was different?

AW: I was mostly injury-free my sophomore year, and it was a much better year than the previous one. But the fall went poorly, compared to what I was hoping to run. I only raced a few times and felt like I kinda got the short end of stick as far as getting into cross-country meets was concerned. Indoors, I got into great shape, but I just was not racing well. As I transitioned into outdoors, I kind of learned how to how to put it all together in a race. I think I managed to balance my effort better during the week, rather than not just hammering on Tuesday as and Thursdays and using whatever was left over at the weekend. The Big East 10K race was a race I'm really proud of. It was almost 90 degrees and the race was a kind of fartlek affair with the pace varying as we tried to break opponents.

TR: As a junior, you chiseled away some time from yout 8K clockings over the country, placing 4th overall at the Valparaiso Invitational in 25:34, running a PR 25:12 for 7th place at the National Catholic Championship, and then 25:09 at the Notre Dame Invitational. You competed in the NCAA Pre-National open race, running 25:16 for 12th, and then capped the season with a strong effort at the Big East Championships, placing 34th in a time of 24:59. It was a very solid fall, but you had an abbreviate indoor season, and did not compete at all during the outdoor season. What happened?

AW: It was a solid cross season, but I still only ended up being our team's alternate for NCAA regionals and nationals. Just after Thanksgiving the problems I had being having with my knee got worse, and in February of 2005, I had arthroscopic surgery.

TR: As a senior, did you race at all, or were you still struggling with your knee?

AW: I showed up every day for practice every day with the team, but barely ran a step all that year. But I spent countless hours cross-training, icing, rehabing. It seemed like I had a doctor's appointment almost every week. I was doing everything I was told to do, but i t still wans't really getting any better. Since I wasn't able to run I took on some more academic challeneges. I applied to the Honors Theology program and wrote a year-long thesis.

Almost a year to the day after my first surgery, I had it 'cleaned out' again, this time in Nashville by Dr. Burton Elrod. This time, I walked out of the hospital under my own steam, and was told I could be running again in two weeks' time.

TR: And were you?

AW: They told me to wait two weeks, and then resume running gradually to "work out the scar tissue." I did this, but a couple of months later it was still hurting, and I didn't know what to do or if the surgery had been successful.

I remember talking it over with Lauren, and she kind of gave me an ultimatum. She suggested I do nothing for a month -- no running, no cross-training, nothing -- if it wasn't better when I started again, "just walk away from the sport," she said.

I think I did about 5 or 6 weeks of nothing and then started back again, and this time it seemed okay. After, 18 months of virtually no running, I started to get into shape again towards the end of last summer.

TR: In college it seems like, overall, you were struggling with injuries quite a bit? Why do you think that was? What, if anything, would you do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

AW: I struggled with injuries for two reasons: First, I took risks in my training to potentially be a "good" collegiate runner rather than an "also ran." Secondly, and maybe more importantly, I was in an awkward position on the team being a 5th to 8th guy, and consequently, I had to "earn" my spot on varsity every week. As a result raced a little too much, in Tuesday workouts and race days.

Moreover, after the surgeries, staying healthy has been a real uphill battle. If I could change things, I would have trained "smarter" and not been so 'O.C.D' about doing everything possible. Nevertheless, I don't regret taking the risk to get good, as that challenge was great for me as a person.

TR: What were the best (and worst) things about being a student-athlete at Notre Dame?

AW: The best is definitely the standard of excellence the athletic department holds; they expected to be a national contender in everything. Also, they have world-class treatment for their athletes in every aspect: from facilities to sports medicine to traveling. The worst aspect was running outside during the harsh winters in South Bend. I've seen enough snow for a lifetime!

TR: Did you always plan to come back to Nashville to pursue an MBA (at Vanderbilt) and run? Or was that a decision that came towards the end of your time at Notre Dame?

AW: I wanted to come back to Nashville to be with Lauren and get started professionally. The MBA opportunity uniquely worked out, as did running for the team. After my two surgeries, I wasn't optimistic about running again, and so using a 5th year was not a top priority. But it all worked out well.

TR: Given the late start you had, I'd say you ran very well for Vanderbilt in the fall, clocking 25:16 over 8K and consistently being their #1 or #2 runner. But the track season didn't seem to go so well for you. What happened?

I didn't run exceptionally well at Vandy, but I was glad to have the opportunity to compete while in grad school, and was just glad to be back running again.

I was in good shape at the end of the winter, and actually looking forward to doing some 1500-meter races, but I tweaked my hamstring in taining over spring break while visiting Keely in Oregon. I could still run, but was unable to run speedwork; i couldn't break 70 for a 400 without it hurting, so I stuck to the longer races.

TR: When did you decide to run the CMM Half? Did you do any specific training (long tempo runs, LSD, etc) for the half?

AW: I signed up for the Chicago Marathon in January and saw that I needed a sub 1:11 for the top corral. After looking for half-marathons nearby, the best solution was Country Music. Three weeks before I spoke with the Team Nashville guys, and they helped me get in. I really just trained for general fitness, and for a decent 5K during the track season. So that [lack of specificity] probably led to my hamstring issues in the last 2 miles of the half.

TR: Your run was impressive, especially given that it was your first attempt at racing over 10 miles. Were you happy with it? Did you have a time goal in mind going into Saturday?

AW: Because running with limited training, a lot of injuries, et cetera, has been so emotionally grueling for me the past few years, actually winning a race and coming close to my goal of sub 69 was extremely rewarding. I knew that I had to break 1:11, if nothing else, but I really felt like longer races are my thing and so had an idea that 69-something was within my range.

TR: You ran with the men's elite pack until the marathon and half diverged (right?). Was that fun/exciting?

AW: It was awesome! I thought that someone for the half was up there with me, and so I just wanted to stay in contention for the win as long as I could. Because they took it conservatively until mile 9, I could stay with them without being over my head.

TR: Were many of your friends/family/teammates out on the course supporting you?

AW: Yes, I had such great support out on the course, and had so many people cheering my name at really surprising spots on the course. In fact, it inspired me to lead for a good bit of the race after mile 5 because I wanted to let people like Lauren know that I was feeling comfortable and probably going to have a good race.

TR: Your hamstring caused you to slow over the last 3 miles? How is it doing now?

Yeah, we threw in a 5 minute 10th mile and I felt my right hammy start to tug. At that point I slowed down to a pace at which I could finesse my way to the finish, and not have to DNF. I ran a little bit this morning for the first time since finishing, and I could hardly break 8-minute pace. Because of my conservative finish, I don't think that it got strained as badly as my other one did in March, and so I will just postpone fast stuff for a little bit.

TR: What's next for you?

AW: Well, I really wanted to run some more track races this spring, but I will probably get my legs back under me and run longer road races (maybe Moon Pie again) until the Chicago Marathon. I really am just excited about getting married in June, though.

TR: That will make you the fastest married couple in Tennessee.

AW: we both seem to be up and down injury-wise, so we'll see. I don't know how long Lauren will run competitively for after she graduates from Belmont. Like me, she is planning on running her first marathon in Chicago. Beyond that, we don't have any firm plans, running-wise. I think we'll both always run. But how fast, only time will tell.