Catching up with the Expats

GRC recently caught up with a handful of expats from years' past to see how they're fairing on (and off!) the roads, track and trail. 

Here is what a handful had to say about training and life:

DIRK DE HEER

The "Beastman" currently lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with wife Brooke and, while not modeling off new wooden clogs, works as an assistant professor in the department of Physical Therapy. The university recently approved a grant Dirk wrote up and, as a result, he'll soon be doing research on the Alter-g anti-gravity treadmill. The Dutchman is busy with everyday life and not training as frequently as he would like, but still "jogs" easily twice a week. By penciling in Cherry Blossom (April) or Tuscon Half (December), Dirk hopes to get recommit himself to an upcoming endeavor. Don't let this lack of fitness fool you - last spring Dirk ran a jaw-dropping 29:59 for 10,000m and in August placed 4th in a half Ironman. This Beastman is no slouch.

IAN HANKINS

Ian lives in Baldwin City, Kansas and coaches the Baker University Wildcats. Nowadays, as a result of coaching, Ian's training is very sporadic but he aims to rabbit (1:14) the Hollywood Half Marathon in December in an effort to get a few of his athletes qualified for the NAIA National Championships in the marathon. Ian recently got engaged to longtime gal pal Beth Neumann.

DIEGO MIRALLES

The Spaniard from Amsterdam, who for a year lived and trained in the United States, now resides in the United Kingdom. With a PhD under his belt, Miralles (see link) now boasts a terrible haircut and teaches classes in hydrology and climate change at the University of Bristol. Miralles hasn't been racing much lately, but did run two sub-32 minute 10Ks as well as an 8:40 3K before moving from Amsterdam to Great Britain.

RYAN HANSON

"Predator" resides in Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of everything chocolate and the famous Troegs Brewery. Hanson hasn't had a lot of time to train due to his demanding school schedule, but plays the occasional pick-up basketball game. The club record holder in the 1500m and 3,000m is engaged to his college sweetheart Katie.

JAKE MARREN

Jake and wife Ella live in Montpelier, Vermont with their new dog "Crumplebones" and have already seen their first frost of the fall. In May, the bearded brewmaster ran 2:49 at the Burlington Marathon while battling plantar pain in his foot (a problem that still persists to this day). Marren is entered in the 2013 Boston Marathon. 

MATT ERNST

When reached for comment, Ernst was purchasing a 12-pack of Budweiser from a Lexington, Kentucky-area package store...at 9:37am...on a Wednesday. The master's runner lives with his new girlfriend and breeds race horses (last week they sold 11!). After a nasty shoulder injury, and subsequent surgery, last November, Ernst hasn't been training as much as he'd like. However, last month he finished the Louisville Ironman. 

PATRICK REAVES

After graduating from Duke in May, Reaves moved to San Mateo, California and took a job with a little know company called Facebook in July. Never one to sit idle, Reaves is running 80-90 miles per week and will be racing Rock n' Roll San Jose half in a few weeks, followed by some races in the Bay Area fall XC series. He'll also be racing alongside fellow GRC expat Billy Askey at Club XC Nationals in December for the Bull City Track Club. Next June, Reaves will set his sights once again on the marathon, this time Rock n' Roll San Diego. He and longtime girlfriend Valerie got engaged this past summer. She and "Wilson", their ever-droopy Basset Hound, will join him in California in January. 

CARLOS HUNT

The one time playboy from American University has returned from Europe and again lives in Washington, D.C. He's been running 30-40 miles per week and hopes to return to GRC practices in November. Hunt is eying the Boston Marathon next spring. 

LUKE ALBERTSON

Luke moved back to Connecticut and is working toward a Master of Arts in Teaching. He's also student-teaching and assistant coaching (xc/track) at William Hall high school. So while he's mostly running vicariously through his athletes, he's also in fairly decent shape, and will be shooting for a sub-15 5k this indoor season. Over the summer, Luke ran 15:19 for 5k on the roads. He will be applying for jobs in the DC metro area come springtime, so we might see him yet again. Luke is also the proud father…of a corn snake named "Corny."

BILLY ASKEY

Billy and wife Sara recently relocated from New York City to Raleigh, North Carolina and live next to a huge state park with abundant (but very hilly) trails that Billy trains on daily. After dealing with an abdominal muscle issue in the spring and focusing on job hunting and moving, Billy is almost back to training full-bore. He'll be running with Bull City Track Club (thanks to Reaves) in Lexington and plans to chase after new PRs in the spring.

DYLAN KEITH
Dwayne now lives and works on a farm in Sacramento, California. That farm, has apparently grown dramatically in the last few months...or so he claims. Training isn't going well, Dwight admits, but he wants to make it a goal to run the California International Marathon NEXT year.

And now...the ladies (in Ladies' Man voice)...

MELISSA TANNER
Tanner is living in Baltimore and ais working as a psychologist at Johns Hopkins. Since finishing up her PhD she's been focusing on her career and loves what she does. While not running as much as she use to, she joined the Falls Road Racing team this past spring. Now she's slowly getting sucked back into it and admits "It's great to be a part of a really supportive running community again". While she has no big races set on the horizon, she'd like to do another marathon.

CAROLINE WHITE
After finishing 34th at the 2012 US Olympic Trials in Houston (2:38), White is setting her sights on shorter races before, once again, moving back up to the 26.2 distance. White is a pilot in the USAF and resides in Anchorage, Alaska. She recently got engaged.

LINDSEY JERDONEK
LJ left her "real job" in January to focus on triathlon training full time and plans to live in Orlando, FL for the winter. She's had a character-building season after missing 5 months of run training due to injury. However, she did compete on the USA relay at a world championships event in Stockholm and placed 5th American at USAT nationals in Buffalo. She has a few races left for the 2011 season: a World Cup in Cancun followed by two half ironman races in SC and FL, but her long term goal is to qualify for the Olympics in Rio in 2016. 

It should be noted that most everyone reached for comment reads this blog frequently and expressed warm greetings to their old teammates back in Washington, D.C.