Drew Hunter: High School Phenom Runner, High Performance Team Founder, Sports Content Producer
In the studio today, professional runner Drew Hunter. He's, been in Boulder, Colorado for about 10 years and he's a professional runner for Adidas. I I really enjoyed my conversation with Drew today. We talked about a lot of different things. I dove into how he got into running, his journey through breaking 4 minutes in the mile multiple times as a high schooler, declining to go to some of the best colleges in the country to run for them, and instead signing a 10 year contract with Adidas.
Justin Metzler:He's 27 now, so he's been a pro for about 8 years. So he's had a lot of experience and, arguably, one of the best runners in America. And so I super enjoyed this conversation with Drew. I'm very passionate about triathlon. As you guys know, I'm passionate about endurance sports and cycling, but oftentimes I'll find myself checking in on, the Diamond League more than the triathlon on the weekend because I'm just really a fan of the 1500, the 5 k, and the 10 ks, and all the other events that go on for professional track and field running.
Justin Metzler:So I love this conversation with Drew, and I'm sure you guys will too. Enjoy this episode with Drew Hunter. Alright. Welcome to another episode of the Endurance Matters podcast. I'm your host, Justin Metzler.
Justin Metzler:And today in studio, I have Drew Hunter, professional runner for Adidas. And, yeah, really looking forward to this conversation with Drew. I'm a huge fan of triathlon and multi sport, obviously, but I'm really into running. So I'm stoked you're in the studio today, Drew. Thanks for joining us.
Justin Metzler:Yeah.
Drew Hunter:Thanks for having me. Excited to excited to chat about running.
Justin Metzler:Awesome, man. Yeah. Running in all things endurance sports, I always start the podcast off with a hard hitting icebreaker question to start. So here it is. Would you rather sell your car and have to elliptigo everywhere or sell your Elliptigo?
Justin Metzler:You can keep your car, but you have to aquajog for all your cross training.
Drew Hunter:Oh, that's a good question. It's actually funny you bring that up. I've been Elliptigoing a lot. I'm getting back into running, and I really like the Elliptigo. I'm one of those guys that chooses that over a bike for cross training.
Drew Hunter:But I have a kid now, so I need the car. I'm sorry. I I'm, I guess so I guess I'm aqua jogging for all my cross training. You could chuck the kid
Justin Metzler:in a backpack or something and pop on the elliptigo, you know?
Drew Hunter:That's a long fall, though if I go down.
Justin Metzler:Oh, yeah. Farther for the kid. 100%. 100%. I've never tried the Elliptigo.
Justin Metzler:I feel like I don't know. I follow you on Strava, so I noticed the Elliptigo going and I was like, oh, man. Maybe I gotta get into this, you know?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. It's a good workout. I really I don't know. I enjoy it. Like, as I'm sure you know, like, for me as a full time runner, biking, like, I just don't wanna, like, tighten up my hips any more than I need to be.
Drew Hunter:Like, I just I I need, like, you know, a full stride and I I need to be able to, you know, be coordinated around the track. And so I was, like, Elliptigo seems like a good sort of hybrid cross training, and it's fun. I love it. It's fun.
Justin Metzler:Yep. For sure. For sure. Well, for those that don't know Drew or maybe coming to this episode from Triathlon, Drew's arguably one of the best professional runners in America. He was an incredibly fast high school runner breaking 4 minutes in the mile multiple times and comes from a long line of runners in his family.
Justin Metzler:So I wanna hear more first. I have a lot of, like, very detailed deep questions, but we need to get a little background going here. So how did you get into running in the first place?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. Both my parents were runners. My dad was he ran for he ran post collegiately, for Athletics West, which was, you know, sort of like pro groups before they were pro groups, because no one got paid back then. And my mom was a division 1 runner. She was more middle distance.
Drew Hunter:My dad was longer distance. And, yeah, my parents never forced me into running, but running was sort of always, like, adjacent in my life. You know, my parents coached to you, team. They, you know, we track was on TV. The Olympics were a big deal.
Drew Hunter:A lot of sort of those things. And, I always kind of, you know, knew that I probably had the genetics to be, decent at running, but, my parents were great about not forcing me into it. They were sort of hands off with, you know, that approach, and they sort of thought maybe if he, you know, just tries it out and is good at it, then he'll be excited, and that's exactly what happened. I went out for the cross country team my freshman year, and I caught the running bug, as I tell everyone. I fell in love with being good at something, and I fell in love with, you know, the process of training really hard, you know, working, at something you care about, being passionate about it.
Drew Hunter:And I, you know, the results just, you know, kept getting better and better.
Justin Metzler:Was there a moment when you realized you were very good at it, or was it kind of a slow progression where the results started kinda trickling in? It was just kind of a like a slow burn.
Drew Hunter:I think, originally, you know, I won a middle school mile when I was in 8th grade, and I was like, okay. I'm the best kid in my middle school at the mile. That was sort of like a light bulb moment, but running's really interesting because no matter how good you get, there's most of the time, there's people faster than you, and there's always new goals and new things that excite you with it. So the process for me was always just there's so many things that excited me. It was, you know, in high school, I, you know, wanted to first make top 7 for the varsity team in cross country, and then after I accomplished that, I wanted to make the state meet, and then I wanted to break 4 20 in the mile, and and, you know, the goal sort of just kept growing, and I'm still, you know, I've been doing this for over a decade now, and I still have big goals that have just kind of the goal post has just moved a little bit.
Drew Hunter:And so, it's sort of always been that slow burn of just, like, I want more.
Justin Metzler:Yep. So you you mentioned 4:20 in breaking that in high school. You know, it's I I mentioned it before. You've already you know, you broke ended up breaking 4 minutes in the mile in high school. So how do you go from 4:20 being the goal to breaking 4 minutes being the goal in a very short amount of time?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. I just I, you know, I stayed healthy all throughout high school, and I just got better every single year. My parents did an excellent job, sort of managing expectations, but also realizing, like, I was talented, and we don't need to, you know, have all of this talent be used up in my high school years. They wanted me to have a long fruitful, running career college and hopefully even beyond college. So for me, I just sort of, you know, I fell in love with running.
Drew Hunter:I fell in love with the process, and all my race results took care of themselves. Like, I don't even think I remember writing down I need to break 4 minutes. I just started to believe that I could do it, and I started to train accordingly, and, you know, the results followed.
Justin Metzler:Yep. How in high school, and I guess during that time, how obsessed with you with running were you? Because I know from my perspective, I got into triathlon in middle school, kinda similar situation. And I was just obsessed with training, and school was sort of like, alright. I'm gonna do what I gotta do to get by, and I was just, like, very singularly focused on triathlon.
Justin Metzler:Was it similar for you with running?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. I was, I was such a running nerd. Once I caught the running bug, which I'd say was my freshman year, like, I was always on the Internet looking up my competitors times. I was obsessed with training. I consumed every single piece of content out there about people that were better than me, what workouts they were doing, what they were eating, how, you know, their sleep habits.
Drew Hunter:I I was obsessed with all that stuff. I actually think I'm a way better now. Like, I'm pretty hands off. Like, I, you know, I have a lot more balance now, but I think early on, I was I found my purpose and I found my thing, and I sort of just ran with it. No pun intended.
Drew Hunter:Yeah.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. 100%. No. I can relate to that completely. What was your parents' role at that time?
Justin Metzler:Were they hands on with the coaching side or the running side? Like, what did that whole situation look like? Because, obviously, you had very elite training during that period.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. My parents were great that, you know, they were the high school coaches of the team, and our team was very bad at the beginning when I first, you know, stepped on stepped on foot to the cross country team. We were not very good, and my parents had a really big sort of task of turning the team around. And they did a great job balancing an elite athlete like me who was, you know, winning state meets, traveling to races outside of the state, you know, finding bigger competitions, but also developing all the rest of the team. And so my parents, they did a great job.
Drew Hunter:They would coach me. They would give me workouts that I could be integrated with the team as much as possible so that I sort of had that experience of being a part of a team, which is really important and special. But also, they didn't neglect athletes who were, you know, 25 minute 5 k athletes. Those athletes had just as much time and attention as I did. And so they really sort of, you know, balanced that perfectly.
Drew Hunter:And, you know, a a few years after I left high school, my high school team ended up being national cross country champions without me on the team, and so they, you know, sort of perfected that craft of developing, you know, a really good high school team.
Justin Metzler:Yep. For sure. For sure. I think, like, yeah, you you look back at some of the, you know, the articles written about you, and there's definitely, like, this high school prodigy thing, and you've done so much as a pro that I I do wanna get into. One thing I was really interested in was the transition from, elite high school runner to being coming a college athlete or, in your case, declining to become a college athlete.
Justin Metzler:Walk me through a little bit, about that time. Like, how did that all sort of play out? Because if I'm correct, you declined to go to college, and you signed a professional running contract with Adidas right out of high school. Walk me through that time in your life and sort of those decisions.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. It was crazy. I had a really good senior cross country season, and I won Foot Locker National Championships, which, you know, at the time was sort of the the biggest cross country made of the year. It's the 40 best men and women in the United States for cross country. And, I came off that and, you know, sort of like the elephant in the room was, can Drew Hunter break 4 minutes in the mile?
Drew Hunter:Can I set a 3 k record? And so we set up some races and some pro races, actually. I was a high school athlete still, but we set up some pro races to go after, some of the high school records, and I ended up breaking the 3 k high high school record. And then a week later, I broke 4 minutes for the first time at the armory in a pro race, and there was a lot of hype around it. There was sort of a lot of media attention, and I was approached or my parents were approached by an agent, and the agent said, Drew is running times that pro athletes want are running.
Drew Hunter:And have you ever considered going pro? And we sort of went down that rabbit hole and explored what that was gonna look like. And I ultimately decided that that was something that was intriguing to me and sounded like a really cool opportunity. And, and so I took it. And, you know, there was a lot of risk with it.
Drew Hunter:You know, it's you sort of professional running is interesting because it's you know, you're a professional athlete, but you have a lot of autonomy. You know, not a lot of people are given a group to train with or a strength coach or anything like that. You sort of have to choose your own path and figure out where you want to live and, you know, who you want to train with and sort of surround your own you know, set up your own situation in your own environment. And so for me, that was exciting. I know for some people, they want to go to college where you have a coach, you know, hold your hand onto the airplane for your meets and, you know, literally tell you exactly where you need to be.
Drew Hunter:You have a class schedule. You have, you know, all these things that keep you, in a very regimented schedule and keep you on track, and that's great for a lot of people, and some people need that. But I really sort of like the freedom that being a professional runner gave me, and it allowed me to choose what races I wanted to do and sort of how I wanted to train and who I want to train with, and that was exciting. And, yeah, it's been it was it was a hard first year as a pro. I mean, as my mom always tells people, like, I skipped 4 grades basically and was racing guys who did 4 years of college.
Drew Hunter:I I missed out on the opportunity to run tactical races, like, I didn't really know how to navigate, you know, the the pressure of being a pro, and no one cares about your age once you're on the starting line with pros. It's just like, oh, you have an Adidas kit on. You're getting paid to do this. Like, alright. You need to go out and beat people.
Drew Hunter:And so for me, the expectations definitely weighed on me, and, I sort of needed to reframe things and figure out, you know, what was a win for me in my 1st year, and it wasn't necessarily, you know, winning races anymore. It was still figuring out, like, how I could, navigate the the difficulty of not being the best.
Justin Metzler:Yep. Was the expectation more self imposed, or was there actually somebody from Adidas saying, hey, we've got this expectation that Drew is running 356 in the mile now, or, you know, he's getting into professional races and winning them straight away, or was it more kind of, like, a a personal thing?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. Great question. There was never any pressure from my sponsors. They they want to think long term with me. That's why they signed me to a long term comp a contract.
Drew Hunter:But it was, you know, like like you said, like, I I loved running and you never wanna be you never wanna have setbacks. You never wanna have injuries. You always think it's gonna be this perfect linear progression. It's just not how it works. And so for me, like, I I had a good 1st year as a pro.
Drew Hunter:Like, my whole goal the 1st year was to make a USA final. I thought that would be a great sort of you know, I I didn't think I'd make a team. I didn't you know, I was very realistic with my goals, and I did make the US final, and I set a personal best in the 1500. And, and I at the time, I think it was like the you know, I was still under 20. I was the 3rd fastest time ever by someone under 20 in the US, and the guys on the list were, like, Matt Sentrowitz and Jim Ryan.
Drew Hunter:You know, pretty good company to be in. Someone might have to fact check me on that. Legends. Yeah. But, yeah.
Drew Hunter:I I think it was really more just like myself. Like, I just felt pressure all of a sudden. When you're in high school, it's just you're just running because you love it and you're around your teammates and it's fun and, you know, I was winning all those races. Like, I I was beating people by a lot and it wasn't really, it was, like, even if I didn't run a time I wanted, I'd beat people by 20 seconds and so no one really cared. So Yeah.
Drew Hunter:For sure.
Justin Metzler:And there's there's a different there's a different experience when you're just winning races. I think that is just a different feeling than feeling than progressing into the pro ranks and everyone's a lot more even, you know, and and maybe you're just not winning races anymore. And even though you're performing and getting personal best, it's just not the same feedback personally as winning is. I'm curious to hear more about the actual, like, contract itself because from what the Internet says, that was a 10 year contract. Is that correct?
Drew Hunter:I think it was 9 years.
Justin Metzler:Okay.
Drew Hunter:It's, like, it's so funny that we're actually having this podcast. I'm in like, my contract's up, and I'm in negotiations now with my agent and with sponsor my my sponsor to figure out another contract. So it's actually really funny that we are talking about this.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. Like, because I'm I'm really interested in the business side of the sport. Like, in triathlon, you know, the sponsorship's kind of a big big deal of, you know, what we do, and it's maybe a little bit different because it's a bit more piecemeal. You've got a lot of different sports going on, and I think the contracts are less significant. I feel like from what I understand with big professional running contracts, it's kind of, like, enough to sustain you maybe for your life.
Justin Metzler:Whereas in triathlon, those are maybe a little bit more difficult to come across. You kinda have to piece together maybe 5 or 10 Yeah. Smaller sponsors to make it sort of, the equivalent of 1 Nike sponsorship or Adidas sponsorship. But at the time when you sign a 9 year contract, is that something that's going around? Like or is that unusual?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. Very unusual. Most contracts are 2 to 4 years for runners, the Olympic cycle. Yeah.
Justin Metzler:For sure.
Drew Hunter:That's sort of how you know, if you're coming out of college and you've run pretty well, you're an all American and the Olympics are in 2 years, the company's probably gonna sign you a 2 year deal. Or if, say, the Olympics just happened and you're a top athlete and you're a stud, you'll probably get a 4 year deal with a company through the Olympics because a lot of the bonuses, a lot of sort of the financial incentives are around the Olympics because it's such a big deal for our sport and, you know, world championships and, you know, sort of the those are the high level races. But yeah. So that's how it works. My contract was rare because I was one of the first people ever that signed a pro high school deal.
Drew Hunter:There was a few sprinters and there was a few female athletes that have done it, but even Alan Webb who's sort of like, you know, the legend of had all the high school records, he went to Michigan for a year, didn't work out, and then signed a pro contract with Nike. So sort of the route I took was a little different and we've since then seen a few other people do it. Hobbs Kessler, who was 5th in the Olympics in the 1500 went pro. Totally. Josh Hoey, who just ran 143 in the 800, went pro out of high school.
Drew Hunter:Ironically, all all Adidas athletes, which is cool. Yeah. But, yeah, I, it's that's a really long running contract, and, you know, running's weird because a lot of careers, the longer you stay in the career, the more money you make because, you know, you're working up and you're taking on more responsibility, running sort of the opposite. People get really excited about you when you're young and then the older you get, you're kind of, kick to the kick to the curb and you you know you're you're you're, old news and so, you know, obviously, running's gotten a little bit better with, you know, for the financial situation, and I feel like companies are really actually supporting people and allowing them to, you know, be professionals. And we can't be professionals if we're not getting paid livable wages, obviously.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. So, nowadays, it's completely different than the landscape was 10 years ago. You know, you've got the introduction of the NIL money coming in. How much of your experience was dictated purely by the dollars and cents that someone like Adidas is coming and offering versus just the opportunity to race professionally. Because nowadays, you have the NIL, you know, situation where a company like on Adidas or Nike can come in, sponsor a collegiate athlete for probably similar value to whatever you were getting paid as a high schooler, and they can still have that college experience.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. I mean, I think that something that, you know, I I love sort of the quote, there are no solutions. There's only trade offs. And I completely feel this way about sort of, you know, the whole landscape of n I l deals and running. When you're a college kid, you have the best setup you're probably ever gonna get.
Drew Hunter:Even the top top top dogs have to figure out their physios, have to figure out their strength coaches. Everything in college is given to you. You're told when to get on your flights. Your flights are paid for. So if you're a college kid, sign a n I NIL deal, be it get a get a degree, have teammates, have a coach, have a strength coach, have all the facilities you need, have all your travel paid for, and, you know, save or invest that money that you're getting, and you'll come out of college in a really good spot.
Drew Hunter:That wasn't the case when I was, and that's probably what I would have explored if I was, you know, looking back on things. But I also just think college kids are super valuable. I mean, NCAA sports are people love them. So I think, you know, like I was saying earlier, a lot of your value is tied to your age in our sport and said, like, the younger you are and if you're, you know, really killing it on the cross country course or on the track, like, that that's when you have to capitalize and have to make the most of, you know, your financial situation.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. It's super positive for running as a whole. I mean, you look at, like, Parker Valby or Nico Young. Like, these athletes are offering so much value, and I think, yeah, they're getting paid correlate to what their value is to what they're bringing to the sport. So that's really cool.
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Justin Metzler:When you transition to Turning Pro, you have to kind of like, you alluded to, you have to create your own environment. How did you end up here in Boulder, and what was that decision making process like?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. So I stayed my 1st year as a pro, I stayed living with my parents because I just didn't know where I wanted to be. And my that was sort of, like, you know, my trial and error year. I was gonna travel to some places. I was gonna try out, you know, sort of the typical running spots.
Drew Hunter:I visited Flagstaff. I visited Boulder. I did training stints in both, and, ultimately, I I just got a good feeling about Boulder. I love the running community. I loved that Denver was right there, and I could take direct flights to basically all my races, even flights now to Europe, which is huge.
Drew Hunter:I loved that. I just felt so much better training here than flag. Flag is really high, and it there's obviously good benefits for, you know, that. But for me, I just psychologically really sort of fell in love with Boulder. And I knew one person out here, Morgan Pearson.
Drew Hunter:He was the only person I actually knew, but I got in touch with Reed through Joe Klecker, a lot of sort of connections here. Yep. And Reed was looking to move out to Boulder. And so we just started texting and said, hey. You wanna get a room together and, you know, move out here?
Drew Hunter:And it was that simple. And I said, sure. Let's do it. And we made that happen. We lived together for 6 months in South Boulder and, just figured out the running thing.
Drew Hunter:And, through that, I sort of had more people reach out, say they would love to come train with me. They'd love to come check out Boulder. And it sort of just snowball effect grew into, you know, a lot, you know, creating a team and sort of having sort of, like, a whole group of guys around me. And, that was not exactly how I thought it would turn out. It was really, really special and, you know, some of those guys are my best friends and it's been cool to create something with them.
Drew Hunter:But really, it was just to start out, I just thought Boulder was a cool place to live.
Justin Metzler:Yep. Boulder's funny like that because you kinda get that bug here. I don't know. There's just something about the vibe and the energy, and maybe it's just the variety. Yep.
Justin Metzler:And just yeah. I don't know. Being in these flat iron here is something there's something special about it. You know? Yeah.
Drew Hunter:I know. I I love I mean, the first time I and my dad lived out in Boulder for, like, a year when he was training, and he always sort of, you know, growing up, he'd, Boulder's the best. Boulder Boulder. He, you know, he'd talk about it. And so it was I don't know if that was sort of, like, enough just to, you know, persuade me to go check it out.
Drew Hunter:But, yeah, I packed up my car and told my I even told my like, my I told my parents, like, hey. I'm moving to Boulder in a week. I know one person, and they were, I think, a little skeptical at first. They were probably you know, there's some doubts, but I think, you know, they're pretty happy with how it's all turned out.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. Absolutely. You mentioned Morgan Pearson. He sent me a DM because, that we were chatting that you were gonna come on the podcast. And he said something funny, like, oh, give him shit for the fact that a triathlete beat him at CrossNats or something.
Justin Metzler:I don't even know what he mentioned.
Drew Hunter:He's talking about himself. Yeah. Yeah. More I I you know, Morgan always is Morgan's one of the funniest people. I was on the plane with before I flew out with him at CrossNats.
Drew Hunter:I was not in good shape. I was doing this because my teammates were doing it, and it was a really fun opportunity. Morgan is the biggest sandbagger ever. He comes on the plane. Oh, I'm not fit.
Drew Hunter:I've only been training for a few weeks. I go look at his Strava and he's doing, like, insanely hard workouts, and I've done, like, 5 by mile and, like, 505.
Justin Metzler:Yeah.
Drew Hunter:And, of course, he beats me, but, you know, it is what it is. Morgan's a great competitor and, you know, he's he's always ready to go. And I respect that. You know, I respect that.
Justin Metzler:I think, like, if there's a triathlete out there that could probably do pretty well in professional running, it's probably him. You know? He's got an insane I mean, he's an insane all of the Olympic triathletes now are running at a extremely high level. You look at, like, you know, Alex Yee, who just won the Olympic games. He was a professional runner for New Balance before he transitioned over.
Justin Metzler:So, obviously, tons of respect for what you guys are doing on the professional running scene, but, you know, these guys are also like, Morgan's an insane runner. So I wanna talk a little bit about Tin Man, because you are the founder of Tin Man. Did talk to me a little bit about how that got off the ground. It seemed like you had this organic infrastructure that was sort of built in when you moved here. Did Tin Man spiral off of that, or, like, how did it get off the ground?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. So I was coached by Tom, Tim, and Schwartz when I came out here. That was Tom. That was, Tom's nickname was Tin Man, and so we created Tin Man Elite, which is a team. I never really the media space is really interesting when I came on to running.
Drew Hunter:Like, no one was really doing anything. It was sort of just, like, you know, you had the flow tracks and you had sort of these bigger organizations that would do everything. But you didn't really have individuals, like, you know, people doing podcasts or anything like that. It just hadn't, for whatever reason, picked up in the running world. And we saw sort of an opportunity.
Drew Hunter:We were all living together, me, Reid, and Sam, and we saw an opportunity just to sort of start showcasing what it was like to be a professional athlete, what we were building, you know, we wanted to have group events. We wanted to have, you know, sell merch. We wanted to do a bunch of media stuff, you know, YouTube stuff, social media. And like you said, it was really organic. We sort of just started, showing what we do every day, and it was that simple.
Drew Hunter:And it really started to grow, I think, really quickly and rapidly because there was just such a void. There was there was there was, like, not a lot of people doing that stuff, and it really picked up. Sam is a mark you know, he had a beautiful brain for the marketing side of things. He sort of knew how to capture people's attention. He knew what people wanted to hear and talk about.
Drew Hunter:Reid has always sort of been, you know, he was he was in journalism in college, and he loved sort of, you know, the the written side of things and newsletters and, you know, describing, you know, like, sort of our race experiences and things like that on, you know, the written side of things. And and I was sort of just like the guy who brought everyone together, and that and we kept it simple and kept it organic and we just sort of grew and we eventually were able to hire, you know, someone to do a full time media stuff for us. We were able to hire, you know, start having guys on the team adding, you know, and then we now have women on the team. So it's sort of just grown organically and, throughout the years, we've had, you know, setbacks and difficulties and a lot of sort of, you know, different sort of, like, highs and lows throughout all of it. We obviously, like, have had, you know, a crazy sort of ride in the last 5 or 6 years, you know, with covid and all these different sorts of things but, it's been really really special.
Justin Metzler:Yep. That's cool. How much of the team is wrapped around exclusively media versus maybe like high performance running?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. That's, they go hand in hand. So the better we run, the better our media performs. We used to think maybe that wasn't the case. We used to sort of think, like, well, if we're producing stuff people haven't seen before, if we're producing, you know, things that maybe the running world hasn't done or, you know, behind the scenes stuff, whatever it may be, we thought maybe that would be enough.
Drew Hunter:But people want characters that are really good runners because people always want people to look up to that, You know, they see their dreams and they wanna, you know, be able to relate to that person. So they go hand in hand. The better we perform, the better our media performs, and, it's pretty, you know, black and white with that now. It's like, you know, if we have Reid Fisher finished top 10, the marathon trials, like, that that's a ton of medives. You know, we can do a lot of really cool stuff around that.
Drew Hunter:If we have someone DNF in a race, there's not much you can do behind that. You know, it's not the best story ever. So yeah.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. You kinda need that credibility, and you need a storyline. I think a high performance storyline, especially for a team that's wrapped around elite runners, is is super important. Talk to me a little bit about the how indeed Adidas got involved and sort of what their impact is on the team now. I'm curious to understand if you pitched it to them, if Sam pitched it to them, and sort of what their take was on the team.
Justin Metzler:Was it something along the lines of them understanding that this is a passion project for you, and so they just wanna support you and maybe support Sam because you guys are Adidas runners and everyone else has maybe just added value? Or have they really kinda stepped up and said, hey. We see value in all of the runners on the team, and we wanna be involved?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. Great question. I love these these these questions because these are not what people always talk about. We always talk about performance and other stuff, but, you know, the business side of the sport is really cool. So, yeah, little a little backstory.
Drew Hunter:So I was signed with Adidas. Reed and Sam were not signed with Adidas when they came out here. They were just free agents. They wanted to train with me, and they were gonna figure it out. I you know, we eventually started to, you know, approach our agents and say, hey.
Drew Hunter:Like, I really wanna be a full time professional runner. Reed was working a part time job. Sam sort of had, like, you know, a runway of I could do this for this long. This is how much money I've saved up, and then I gotta figure something out. They started running pretty pretty well.
Drew Hunter:They started to sort of, you know, catch on, you know, get get attention in media, get attention in the running world. They started, you know, getting in bigger races. Sam became a, you know, was working on his German citizenship, and so that was a lot, you know, really valuable. And, we sort of went to Adidas and said, hey, like, we'd love to sign these guys and they did and they signed Reid and then Sam and then we had an influx of athletes come in and we said we actually need a team deal. Yeah.
Drew Hunter:I have a really funny story. We went to Adidas headquarters in Portland. So the the big headquarters are in Germany, but they have a US headquarters in Portland. And we basically showed up and we were like, hey. We're here.
Drew Hunter:We wanna pitch to the top running person why you should invest in Tim and Elite. And this is I already have my team contract. Sam already has his individual contract, but we really just wanted to pitch Tim and Elite to them and say, like, here's what we can provide value. Here's what we can do. Here's, you know, all of our sort of, you know, projected metrics for all these different things.
Drew Hunter:And we show up, and we literally waited hours outside the headquarters to get a meeting with, you know, the head of sports marketing. We show up and they're not very happy. They're like, you can't just show up. And keep in mind, like, I'm like, I have no idea what I'm doing. Like, I've I've very recently fallen into like you know I love the business side of things makes a lot more sense to me now and I sort of know how I would handle that now but I didn't at the time and I was sort of just following Sam's lead yeah Sam had a small connection with Adidas.
Drew Hunter:He interned for them at one point. And they're basically, like, in a very nice way, they were like, guys, what the hell are you doing? Like, I have meetings scheduled out months in advance. You can't just show up on our doorstep and expect us to actually meet or talk with you.
Justin Metzler:Yeah.
Drew Hunter:The meeting went pretty well. We told him everything we liked. And at the end of the meeting, I'll never forget. The head of sports marketing said, you at the end of the day, all this is about is selling running shoes, and most runners can't do that. And it's very it's truthful.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. We, a few years later, ended up creating a running shoe with adidas, selling completely out of those shoes, and had our own logo on the shoe. I was in the headquarters in Germany earlier this year and are we still have a shoe in the headquarters in Germany. And so that was a really cool full circle moment for me, to know that we did it. And that was really special, and that was something that I'll look back on fondly.
Drew Hunter:And I was really, really sort of proud of that, and I felt like Adidas actually gotten a return on their investment, which, like I said earlier, isn't the normal, you know, that situation.
Justin Metzler:That's a very interesting perspective. I'm I'm interested to hear your take on that specifically because it's very similar to maybe bikes and triathlon or wheels. Right? So these are very expensive items. Shoes are a little bit more consumable because you can maybe buy, know, a shoe for a $100, or if it's a carbon plated shoe, maybe 2 or $300 is the max you're gonna pay.
Justin Metzler:A bike can be $10,000. So it's very difficult for these company CEOs or sports management directors, sports marketing directors to understand the correlation to sponsoring an athlete and getting the return. If you look at running as a whole and you look at someone like use Noah Lyles as an example or, you know, another big runner, Cole Hawker for, for Nike. Are they delivering shoe sales on the amount of money that someone like Nike or Adidas is paying those superstars? If that's the perspective of the sports marketing director at Adidas, do you think that the 1,000,000 of dollars they're spending on on these other other athletes is actually delivering shoe
Drew Hunter:sales? Great question. Probably a little controversial of an answer, but the answer is probably no for a lot of people. And I also think there's probably people that have a contract for $30,000 that is delivering that value. Mhmm.
Drew Hunter:Noah is delivering value in a completely different way.
Justin Metzler:Yep.
Drew Hunter:He's completely, you know, the sport is completely transforming because of him. He he, you know, the amount of attention he's called to it. I mean, even just little thing and it sounds ridiculous, but even little things of him, you know, getting in Twitter fights with
Justin Metzler:Yeah.
Drew Hunter:NBA players. Like, that's just something that track athletes don't do. Yeah. So I think that's a completely different side of you know, that's completely different value. Like, I could never tell you how many shoes Noah Lyles is selling.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. But he doesn't have a shoe. And so I think that it would be an interesting experiment to see if, you know, we gave signature shoes to sprinters and, you know, top athletes. Would they actually sell them? But that doesn't seem to be what running companies do for whatever reason.
Drew Hunter:However, I think that there's a way our sport is still grassroots, and I would say, you know, maybe triathlon's a little different. I don't know. I don't know too much. Super grassroots. Yeah.
Drew Hunter:But I think that there is such a way to invest in athletes that you can win locally. You can win, you know, sort of the you know, I always think about Boulder Boulder for, like, it's last year was the 1st year we set up a tent in Boulder Boulder and had sort of, like, a Tin Man watch party, and we, you know, we cheered people on. And I was, like, I cannot believe it's taken me this long to realize how important this is. Yeah. Like, how have we not won locally and went won in Boulder?
Drew Hunter:And I think that that is a greater opportunity for sort of a lot of, you know, up and coming people in the sport. Like, are you gonna sling shoes for Adidas? No. Let's just Yeah. That probably not the case.
Drew Hunter:But does that not mean you're not valuable? No. I think it just has to be sort of you have to be put in situations where you can't provide value in different ways. And for us, we sort of create that our value ourselves by creating a brand with Tim and Elite by, you know, showcasing athletes stories by, you know, hiring a media team that could be there to shoot moments of, you know, despair and, you know, super exciting, you know, highs and super low lows, like, that's sort of where we created value. I don't know how much that translates to selling shoes though.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. And that's a long way to kind of get to that, but I don't actually know. And with bikes, it's probably even more complicated. Right?
Justin Metzler:Yep. I think for you, you guys have done a tremendous job, not only building the Tim and Elite, but to actually provide concrete value to say we are selling shoes that is so massive. It's similar for for bike brands. Right? Like, if you have a code associated to your name and you say, hey.
Justin Metzler:Like, I sold x number of bikes. Here's how much you pay me. I generated you profit.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. That's huge. But a
Justin Metzler:lot of professional athletes want to do the whole, hey. You know, you're using my likeness, likeness, and that should be enough for $50,000 or a $100,000 or $500,000. You know? And I think if you're someone like Noah Lyles or Cole Hawker who won the Olympic gold in the 1500, maybe you do have that likeness that transcends the sales. But for those that are maybe on the come up, new pros or those in the trenches just trying to, like, survive as a pro, I think it's really important to maybe get in the weeds a little bit and do the work.
Justin Metzler:You know? Whether it's the social media or selling the shoes or going local is a extremely good rec, you know, recommendation. So, yeah, I think you guys are doing really good things with Tim and Elite, and I think, like, your contracts are gonna be secure. I know it's a contract year for you. I don't know what you guys are thinking, but Yeah.
Justin Metzler:I think Adidas would be silly to not resign you and obviously continue to participate with the team because there are a lot of other brands out there that would see a lot of value in what you guys have have built, and they could definitely capitalize upon that as well. You know, you mentioned other podcasts maybe talking a little bit more about the training. I don't wanna skip over the training because I'm interested in that as well, just as, like, a training and physiology nerd. So I wanna talk a little bit about your specific transition from maybe 1500 running because you mentioned, you know, your high school success came in the mile. Your early professional running, I think, was focused mostly on the 1500.
Justin Metzler:What does the transition look like from 1500 guy to now being, like, a 5 k, 10 k guy?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. It's so I trained very differently last year, and I focused on the 5 k and 10 k. Ironically enough, I ended up running the fastest I've ever run-in the 1500. I ran 333, later in the summer. So there's this weird where in the sport is just thriving.
Drew Hunter:So, you like knowledge. I don't know if it's knowledge. I don't know if it's seeing other people run fast, but everyone's so good at everything that you can't really leave any stone unturned anymore. Like, to be the best 10 k guy in the country, like, you have I mean, Grant Fisher's run 334 for 1500. You can't be a 10 k guy.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. You can't be a 5 k guy. You can't be a 1500 guy. You have to be good at everything. And that was sort of the approach we took this last year was what are my weaknesses?
Drew Hunter:What am I struggling with? Let's work back from that and create a training plan. My mom did an excellent job sort of just reining me in saying let's cut out a lot of b s. Let's get you really really strong and let's have you run a great 10 k and I think you'll be able to thrive off of that. You'll be able to run a good 5 k, you'll be able to run cross country, you'll be able to run a 1500, and that's what we did this last year is I really got super super strong.
Drew Hunter:I got really confident from doing that training. I think people sometimes don't give that enough credit, but doing training that you feel good in, feel like your body's sort of like recovering from, feel like you're adjusting to, feel like you can do time and time again time again, is super important. And I think, like, for me, last year being an olympic year, we just had to really get down to the basics of, like, let's get really strong let's get really you know efficient and let's stay healthy and I think you can do well on everything
Justin Metzler:what distance are you most stoked about right now
Drew Hunter:that's a good question I I think I can run a really good 5 k. I I ran I ran 25 k last year. Like, I just I got sick at the trials and so I had to drop out. I got COVID, doubling back from the 10. I ran 1308 in my first 5 k last year, and I just feel like I can run sub 13.
Drew Hunter:And I think that sort of finally is, you know, putting me in contention to make teams and, you know, be somewhat competitive on an international level. And I just know I have that 1500 speed that you have to have. The 10 k is interesting because it's just an event you get to rarely run, and you get to run it like once. And, you know, if it goes well, it can you can do really you know, it can set you up really well for the year. But if it goes poorly, you don't really have a ton of opportunities to go run another 10 k.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. So that one's sort of, you know, I'd say I'm gonna keep experimenting with that, and I really like how starting the year with a 10 k because it sort of sets me up well for the rest of the year, but I really would love to run some really good 5 k races next year.
Justin Metzler:Yep. I think that'd be good, like, starting, you know, another Olympic cycle. You're still 4 years out from LA. I think that's probably a good approach. I wanna get a little bit into the weeds on the training.
Justin Metzler:What does a great week of training look like for you? What does it look like when you're actually in that flow, when you're kind of doing those sessions where you're getting that positive feedback and feeling really confident in it?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. If you first off, I post everything on Strava. So if you wanna see what I do, I'm not lying, you can just go on my Strava, and look at all of it. But a good a week I did most of the time last year was something like this. Monday, easy long run, 90 minutes, cover 13, 14 miles, PM, gym session.
Drew Hunter:Tuesday, 9 in the morning with strides. We do, like, 5 times a 100 meter stride really hard. That was sort of my speed work for the year, like, running 12 seconds for the 100, you know, getting down to pretty fast strides. PM, 5 mile double. Wednesday, double threshold, Something like 5 by 2 k in the morning, 10 by 1 k in the afternoon, 25 by 400 in the afternoon.
Drew Hunter:Very slow controlled, you know, just keeping our lactate down as much as we can. You know, a lot of people are shocked by this, but, like, I would do 2 k's where I'd be coming through the mile in 5:10, you know, even 5:15 sometimes. But that you finish that day and you get in 22 miles of volume, it's a very big day. Thursday, easy 6 mile jog, and then I'd lift in the afternoon, just a pure recovery day. Friday, same day as Tuesday, so 9 in the morning strides, 5 in the evening.
Drew Hunter:Saturday was sort of our v o two race specific session day. So in the fall, we'll do something like 20 by 200 meter hills, sort of just like a hill day, v o two max, you know, power day. As we transition to more track races, something, you know, a workout I love doing this year is we did 20 by 400, where we had sort of, like, 5 sets of 44 100, and we would do, you know, get faster each set. So start at, like, 62, 60 threes, and the last set we're running, you know, 57, 50 eights, off of, you know, 90 seconds, 2 minute rest, something like that, that changes throughout the year and based on what we're doing, you know, if in the fall, we do more cross country style workouts or longer intervals and as we get closer to track season, faster stuff. And then Sunday, just an easy jog or off, and I would a good week is around 90 miles, and I could do that year round.
Drew Hunter:Rinse and repeat. That's sort of like a standard training week for
Justin Metzler:me. Yeah. I mean, it's a very impressive week. You mentioned using lactate to dictate some of the training intensity. How much are you guys focusing on hitting, like, ltonelt2?
Justin Metzler:How much are you using the lactate versus just getting on the track and hitting sixties, like you mentioned, or 50 eights or whatever, setting the pace and and hitting it no matter what? What's kind of the, I guess, the philosophy that you guys are subscribing to?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. That's something new my mom did this year and it was really just to rein us in. I think we were just running too fast. We do a lot of effort based training, but I think sometimes with effort based training, you can just overdo it and not even know what you're you're overdoing it because you're so used to that routine of running, I don't know, 4:50 pace for threshold even though that's probably not your threshold for the day. So Wednesdays are very controlled and those days, like, we're checking and testing pretty much the whole session.
Drew Hunter:And like my mom will even, you know, pull, and like my mom will even, you know, pull athletes if they're testing too high or will stop or will slow down or will add rest. Those days are very, data driven days. Saturdays, those days we're not testing, we're just getting after it. And those are the days that we feel like are, you know, giving us confidence for the races and, reminding us that you gotta run faster than threshold pace in the race, you know. Like, those those are the hard days, and those days are, you know, very, my mom is hands off in the fact that, you know, she'll give us a range sometimes.
Drew Hunter:She'll say, you know, alright. It's the last rep. You can run fast. You know, sort of that, there's not sort of like a set. You have to run this interval in this time, but we sort of have an objective and goal for the day and, and, you know, there's if it's, you know, 5 k interval race pace, then, you know, there's a lot of intervals that are right dialed in at 63, 62, stuff like that.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. Very cool. I mean, I see the videos of you guys out there at Niwad High School knocking it out. Sometimes you'll see the, see us out there doing our thing too. I guess, like, I'm curious to hear more about the team dynamic for those workouts because, you know, you have guys like maybe you and Sam who are both going for a 5 k at the same time, but then you might have a dude like Reed or Connor who's also there trying to do their thing.
Justin Metzler:How much crossover is there between the guys who are on the track and the guys who are focusing maybe on the on the marathon or being on the roads? Like, what's that dynamic look like?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. It's it's tough. Like, Reid and Connor, some of my best friends, I wish I could do every single training session with them. I love training with them, but there's the realistic side of things. They're racing a 26.2 mile race, and I'm racing a 3.1 mile race.
Drew Hunter:So those races are different. There is a lot of overlap in certain times of the year. You know, for example, like, right now, everyone's basically doing the end of Reed Chicago marathon buildup, and Connor's racing CIM 8 weeks later, the end of his sort of CIM buildup because it makes sense. We're just in fall base training period. There's not sort of any races on the calendar that are important.
Drew Hunter:We're just getting strong again. During track season, I won't see those guys for a few months because they have, you know, a half marathon to get ready for and I'm, you know, getting ready to run trying to run 56 second 400 pace for 1500. So it's very different, but, you know, my mom does a good job trying to get us to overlap because, like you said, like, I love the team dynamic of, you know I did I didn't move out here to train by myself I moved out here to have teammates and have people help me get better and I think some of my weaknesses are you know reed strengths and so he can really complement me with those and I can have probably help him with some faster intervals and more v o two stuff. So I think, you know, finding a balance with it. But generally speaking, like, the nice thing is is we all have easy days during the week.
Drew Hunter:Reid now lives in Longmont. Joey, who's on our team, lives in you know, he's my neighbor in Longmont, and I'll run with those guys, you know, a few times a week on an easy run or a double.
Justin Metzler:Sometimes that's honestly the most valuable session. You know, you can go to the track and you can hit your lactate or you can hit your and be really focused and be very kind of, like, intrinsically motivated, but sometimes the doubles are the easy runs of the hardest ones to get out the door for. So to be able to go do 9 miles with a friend, I mean, it can go by like that whereas opposed to being alone, it's like, well, that was a long hour run or whatever.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. No. Reed and I will talk I don't know how because we're like best friends and we, you know, have spent so much time together doing everything, you know, running, building a business, like, just life in general hanging out and, like, we'll still every run for an hour can fill the conversation for an hour, and it's pretty special. And this is what I'll look back on, you know, when I'm all said and done, be be really happy that I I had that opportunity.
Justin Metzler:I mean, that's kind of I've been reflecting on that. This is my 11th season as a professional triathlete, and I think you the younger athletes and myself included in that category and maybe yourself, maybe you can tell me if I'm, off base here, but you're just so focused on trying to just win races, win races, win races, and it's not until you kind of maybe have a little perspective and maybe a bit of maturity to understand that, yeah, winning races is important to keep the dream alive, and it's fun. It feels good, but it's really the experiences along the way and the people you share the experiences with that actually make a career.
Drew Hunter:You know? Totally. Yeah. And it's it's what keeps people around for so long. You know?
Drew Hunter:It's I think that, like, hardo mentality if I can grit this out and, you know, everyone's my competitor. It's sure. Maybe that works for a season. Maybe that works for, you know, a year. But, man, like, the joy I have just showing up to Niwa and getting to work out with my best friends is like I'm like, that's so special.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. That's huge. That's huge. You've mentioned your mom a couple times here. I'm curious to hear about that dynamic as well because, you know, it seems like a very family operation for you guys.
Justin Metzler:Right? Like, you're training with your best friends. Your mom and dad are there for every single session. Like,
Drew Hunter:what are the positives out
Justin Metzler:of that? Maybe what are some of the harder moments?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. I always start when people ask about this and say, it's not always been pretty, and it's not been perfect. You know, I I'm I'm pretty I have a lot of opinions about, you know, what I wanna do with training and that sort of you know, my mom and I can bump heads with things like that. But at the end of the day, what's cool about having your mom as your coach is she is your biggest supporter. She wants you to succeed more than anyone.
Drew Hunter:And I have to remind myself of that from time to time. You know, sometimes it feels like, why are we doing this? Why are we doing that? You know, this I do things differently here, and it's like, wait a second. My mom just wants the best for me, just as a mother.
Drew Hunter:You know, take the coach element out of that. And so it's gotten better. Like, I think when we first got out here, there was a lot of sort of, you know, stuff to work through. She was also coaching some of my best friends now. Like, there's not, you know, there's a lot of dynamic with that.
Drew Hunter:It's like, how do I give Drew attention but not too much attention so other athletes, you know, don't feel like I'm favoring him? You know, there's sort of a lot of weird things that you wouldn't even think about, that she had to navigate, and she did a good job. I mean, there's not a lot of professional women coaches in our sports, so her just navigating that space in general has been, like, you know, she doesn't have, like, a 1000000 mentors to go to and ask for, like, what's your advice on this? She's sort of figuring it out. And, but she's been an incredible resource for our team and, it's been cool.
Drew Hunter:I think, like, I always think of, you know, the the moment where I make an Olympic team and, you know, I obviously get to see my family afterwards, and I just think, like, how special that is that, like, I would be able to share that with my mom and my dad for that matter.
Justin Metzler:Absolutely. Yeah. You mentioned the Olympics. I don't wanna, yeah, over overshoot that, because it's obviously a very important part of running. I'm sure it's a a North Star goal for you.
Justin Metzler:How much of the next 4 years is gonna be focused on getting on that team in LA? For those that don't know, Drew was 4th at the Olympic trials in the 10 k this year, missing out on the spot by 1 Mhmm. And then, got sick before the 5 k. So you weren't able to compete in the 5 k trials, which was pretty, you know, obviously disappointing for you and all of your fans. How much of the next 4 years is gonna be wrapped up in ensuring that you're on that Olympic team for LA?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. It's gonna be, you know, everything. It's gonna be my big goal. I'm not gonna look at it that way, though. Like, my goal will be to improve over the next 4 years and set myself up in training and in life and, you know, in, all the aspects I can work on so that I have the best shot to make the team.
Drew Hunter:I'm not sort of, like, a do or die goals person anymore. Like, I believe that there are certain things and steps I can take every day to get a little bit better. And if I handle those, then, you know, the goals will I'll I'll, you know, I'll be happy regardless of the result and so for me, yeah, like, that's I mean, that's it, you know, like, if I get another contract, like, it'll be through LA and at that point, I'll be 30 or 31. I don't know. I would love to keep running afterwards but you just never know and so for me that's sort of gonna be, you know, maybe my last shot and it's a US Olympics and so that's there's a lot of, you know, hype around that like my family could be.
Drew Hunter:I have 2 daughters now so it's like I, and, you know, my oldest daughter will be, you know, very old enough to understand what's going on, so that's extra special. So for me, like, I'm just gonna, you know, take care of business this week, this month, this year, and then, I know that in 4 years, I'll be ready to go.
Justin Metzler:Yep. For sure. I mean, that's the that's the perspective you've got to, got to take, especially when you've got 4 years of runway. What is running and pursuing the sport at this high level still giving you the same amount of joy that it did maybe 8 years ago or 10 years ago?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. I think it's different. I think it's always that's what's like, it's I just you do the same thing every day, and sometimes you're like, why am I doing this? Or, you know, what like, is there something else out there? Like, is this but, I mean, even today, I had the most beautiful 8 mile run.
Drew Hunter:Like, the weather was perfect. My body feels good and I'm just like, that should be enough for me to just be so content and happy with what running has given me. And I have to remind myself of that, you know, when it's I'm struggling or the weather's bad or, you know, I haven't a setback or an injury. But, yeah, like, there's always, you know, it's a revolving door with goals. Like, it's just always something to be excited about.
Drew Hunter:Like, this year, I really want to do, like, a 10 miler and I really want to run Boulder Boulder because USAA's has pushed back super late this year. So I it would be the opportunity for me to do that. Like, I really want to do those fun things and those things keep you motivated, keep you hungry, keep you excited. And, there's always someone faster than you, and there's always something to, you know, there's always a carrot dangling right in front of your head that you're like, alright. I wanna chase that.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. A 100%. It's it's funny because the question one of the questions the multiple questions I have written down here is having had setbacks and injuries or, you know, you might in the future have setbacks and injuries, do you have an elevated level of gratitude for the times when things are just clicking and going well? It seems like you're in a really good place right now. Like, where is your level of gratitude at, like, an all time high?
Justin Metzler:Because you've had maybe some setbacks in recent years or in the past.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. This last year, I thought it was gonna be my last year. I just didn't think I was running well enough. I thought, like, my body was sort of failing me. I just, like, felt bad all the time, and it's, like, it's hard to as motivated as you can be if your body's sort of not following suit and you can't do the training that you think you need to do, prepare your races.
Drew Hunter:It's not that fun. And so for me, I was sort of like I went into this last year just soak in all the moments with your teammates, soak in all the race experiences, soak in the nerves that, you know, maybe have overwhelmed you in the past and be like, this is so cool that you get to experience this one last time. And ironically enough, I had a great year and things have sort of been looking up from there and I feel really optimistic about the future. And, yeah, you're just carrying gratitude to starting line. That's a really powerful tool to have.
Drew Hunter:Like, I mean, there's obviously, you know, the the the Tom Bradys that are the hardos and, you know, that will be the most dedicated, hardworking people and will outwork you. And, but I think sometimes the people that win on the starting lines are just people that are so, like, in love with the process of what it is to be a professional runner that they just show up and they're, like, looking around the stands and they're like, this is so cool. And I this is such this is the last time I could get this opportunity. So go out and, you know, give it everything you can.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. I mean, you're hitting me deep right now, man. I'm wondering if this I'm feeling those a little bit. Like, I my body's been kinda failing me for the first time in my career, and I'm wondering if maybe 2025 or 2026 might be the end of my my career. And so, like, what would you say to me or the other people that are out here listening to this podcast that are sort of, like, at that precipice of not knowing what the future holds?
Justin Metzler:And what do you do on the day to day to just kind of keep going?
Drew Hunter:Yeah. Great question. For me, it was really, really simple, and it was just I all the reasons that I fell in love with the sport get back to those. So whatever that may be, it may be just going for a different run with a friend. Like, it could be just trying a new running route that's beautiful that you've just neglected because you're like, just gonna run from the house today or whatever.
Drew Hunter:It could be simple like that. Could also just be I think in some of my worst, like, darkest moments when I was injured, the I stopped thinking about myself. I started showing up to practices, timing people. I started, you know, like, we have a camp every year and I was in a pretty bad place and getting to talk to the campers that were high school kids that were, you know, inspired by my story. It's like, I think if you can zoom out and think a little bit less about your own running, you'll actually sort of create this environment where it's put in its place, and then all of a sudden it can click again.
Drew Hunter:And it it sort of comes back in it maybe a different form, and for me that was having kids too. Like, it completely changed my perspective on everything and I realized so much that running was now about supporting my family and also just about like, you know, being able to, you know, know that this is just a chapter of my life and that I have so much more beautiful, incredibly exciting things to look forward to post running and it's not everything. And so for me, that was huge. And and like I said, I sort of got back to the things that I loved about running to to begin with.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. That's a great answer. I I feel like I could ask you a million questions all day about running and about life because I've really enjoyed, you know, our conversation today. I don't wanna take up too much of your time, but what is, I guess, one thing that you're really looking forward to in the future? You know, you mentioned your your 2 daughters.
Justin Metzler:Obviously, they're young. What's something whenever you're done with running, whether that's in 4 years or 8 years or whatever it might be that you're really looking forward to getting into?
Drew Hunter:Okay. This is a funny answer, but we I talk about all the time with my wife, and I really want to have so my parents are coaching our team currently. I want, like, a family compound, with, you know, my wife's mom and my parents. And, like, I want, like, 10 acres. I want, like, all of our my siblings who have kids to be there.
Drew Hunter:I just wanna dive into everything family. Like, I just I felt so called to that. And so it felt like that's been so transformative for me. And so, like, I sort of have this goal of just being able to, you know, buy a plot of land and build up our dream home and have my parents there and have my wife's parents there and, you know, sort of, like, dive into that. That's sort of a completely you know, has nothing to do with running.
Drew Hunter:It's just sort of life. But on top of that, just spend as much time with, you know, my kids as I possibly can. That's what's cool about my job now is I train in the morning, and then I can be with my daughter throughout the day. Like, I can help my wife raise our kids. And then I go off for my afternoon training, and I come back and do the same thing.
Drew Hunter:You know, like, I'm there for every single meal. I'm there to put my kids down every single night, and that's been really, really special.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. That's huge. I mean, family is everything. You know? So that's it's really cool that you have that kind of north star goal, and that probably grounds you a little bit too on the day to day when things are maybe going really well or not going well.
Justin Metzler:You know, you have this finite amount of time as a professional athlete, and there's so much to look you know, you can really look forward to the moments that you're having now, but also so much to come in the future. So I always finish off the podcast with some rapid fire questions.
Drew Hunter:I've
Justin Metzler:got 6 for you today. Okay. Let's do it. You ready to roll? Alright.
Justin Metzler:Favors
Drew Hunter:favorite Adidas shoe of all time? Oh, all time. Adios Pro 3.
Justin Metzler:K. Favorite Tin Man teammate and why?
Drew Hunter:Oh, man. I'm gonna get so much crap for this. I Reed's Reed's been there through everything with me, so I'm gonna say Reed.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. Good answer. Good answer. Best workout of all time?
Drew Hunter:Hill repeats. Controversial, but I think they're very you can use them in any way you want. Sorry. I just wrap fire.
Justin Metzler:No. It's fine. Yeah. Can you think of a singular workout? That's a good interpretation of the question.
Justin Metzler:Can you think of one workout in your lifetime where you were like, oh, that was like the best workout I ever did. Like, fastest? Whatever. I mean, I just know, like, I did mile repeats on monarch one time, and I, like You
Drew Hunter:just ripped it?
Justin Metzler:I just ripped it, and I remember the splits exactly. And it was just, like, one of those days where I, like, wasted a race in training.
Drew Hunter:I did a session with Sam. It was 8 by 600. And we probably averaged, like, 130 or 131 for the 600. But it was just one of those days where 60 second pace felt like nothing. Yeah.
Drew Hunter:You know?
Justin Metzler:Totally. Those days are just like I don't know. You kind of live for those days and pray for them on race day. You get one every 2 years or something. Totally.
Justin Metzler:Okay. 3 mile, 4 mile, or 5 mile double? 5 mile double. 5 mile double guy. Alright.
Justin Metzler:What's the perfect pace for a long run in miles?
Drew Hunter:6 18 mile pace.
Justin Metzler:That's an honest answer. Alright. And Longmont or Boulder?
Drew Hunter:Longmont versus everybody. There There we go. Longmont Elite.
Justin Metzler:That's what we called it. I'm triathlon seed. Alright. That's it, man. I really appreciate you coming on today.
Justin Metzler:Really enjoyed this. Thank you very much.
Drew Hunter:Yeah. Thank you. This is really fun.
Justin Metzler:Alright. Cool, man. See you in the next episode.
