I began running at age 8 in Louisville's Catholic Schools Athletic Association. I always played multiple sports growing up , but in 6th grade, my love for running was cemented at the Louisville Triple Crown of Running and the KDF MiniMarathon. I ran a 1:31 Half Marathon at age 11, which was the spark that made me realize I may have the tools to be successful in the sport. Under the guidance of Coach Medley, I progressed to a 9:13 2-miler and 4:19 miler by the time I graduated from St. X in Louisville.
Competing in college at UK, I always knew that the track 5k/10k and cross country 8k/10k were too short for my strengths in the sport. I never had the natural speed to be a truly good D1 5k/10k runner (14:33, 30:30), so even in college my head was already partly oriented toward the marathon and beyond. After finishing my eligibility at UK in 2016, I approached David Long, a 2:12 marathoner out of Louisville, about coaching me. When we first started working together, it was with the understanding that the ultimate goal was to run an OTQ in the marathon for the 2020 trials. His marathon philosophy is shaped by the 70's and 80's when he was racing legendary names of the sport like Bill Rogers and Rod Dixon, where "if you weren't running 100 miles a week, then you weren't running." Compared to college training, I backed off the intensity and upped the sheer number of miles I was running. This volume, strength-based philosophy was the training approach I was looking for and has worked really well for me. On my 4th crack at the marathon distance I punched my ticket to the Trials by running 2:18:26 in Indianapolis. Running in the Olympic Trials last February was the culmination of years of work and was an experience I will absolutely never forget.
While pursuing the marathon the past few years, I’ve also dabbled in the ultra/trail world. I love the stark challenge of ultras, and it’s where I see myself spending the vast majority of my remaining competitive running career. The past few years, I’ve won the Rough Trail 50k and Yamacraw 50k, broken a 30 year-old course record at the Strolling Jim 40 Miler, and set the course record at the Tunnel Hill 50 Miler, running 5:03:06 to become the 4th fastest American ever at the distance.
Favorite Distance:
My heart is set on racing longer distances, but I still think the marathon is the most beautiful race out there. There is something special about going out and really racing a marathon. The combination of speed and strength required to run the event well is something that is unique to the race. To an extent, you can fake a good half marathon with enough speed and you can muddle through a 50-100 miler with enough lifetime strength. In the marathon, though, there’s nowhere to hide. You have to be fast and strong. You have to be on top of your game to run well.
Do you have any running/walking advice you'd like to offer?
If I had any advice to give, it would be to do whatever you need to do to keep yourself excited and interested in the sport (especially now, when there are so few race opportunities). After I ran an OTQ in the marathon in the fall of 2018, I took the spring to focus on running “fast and short” after a couple of years of focusing on the marathon. Somehow I managed to run under 15 minutes in the 5k at the Anthem 5k (a barrier I never expected to break again) and PR in the 10k at the Rodes City Run. More recently, I took a day to run the Virtual Quarantine Backyard Ultra and had fun running 50 miles over 12 hours - experimenting with what foods my stomach handled well. It’s so much easier to get out and run if you’re enjoying the process, so do whatever you need to do to make it fun for yourself.
Why do you like running River City Races events?:
River City Races events were staples of my early running experience. I wouldn’t be the runner I am today without being exposed to the sport through River City Races events at a young age. The longstanding tradition of some of the races along with the always fantastic Louisville running community makes them great races to run.
Read more about Zack’s experiences here: Tunnel Hill and Strolling Jim.