From 2:38 Debut to Boston: The Wrestling Coach Chasing His Dad's Time | Nathan Rankin

DFW Running Talk: Nathan Rankin
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[00:00:00] Alright, welcome to another TFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Tetzel and we are here live at the Park Plaza in Boston. Tomorrow is the Boston Marathon, and today's special guest is Nathan Rankin. Nathan, how's it going? Good. Awesome to be here in Boston and thanks for inviting me on. Of course, man, and I know your dad, so your dad's Greg, a lot of people in Dallas know your dad and I think you.

Kinda grew up in Dallas, is that right? Yep. Grew up in Plano area. Every time I'm in town I try to run with groups in Dallas, just be with people. Usually I'll show up and be like, Hey, I'm Greg's son, and that's how everybody knows me. That's right. So I think more people know him than me. Yeah. But so it's funny, my, my wife used to be big into the community of running.

She still is, but that, that they would say, oh, you're Leah's husband. I know how that feels, man. So yeah, this is your second marathon for Boston. So tell me a little bit about, kinda your journey into, to running and those kinds of things and we'll go from there. Yeah my dad ran and so he's always wanted his kids to run and I just picked it up in eighth grade, taking it a little bit more serious.

I've always [00:01:00] seen him running. We went to the local five Ks and everything. And then with me being so small in high school, cross country and wrestling were the two sports I could do that didn't have a size limitation to it. Yeah. And so my dad's kind of always been like there to help coach in areas.

I had a high school and college coach, but if I ever needed something to ask a question or like during summer training, he would give me little things to try. And then after graduating college, I wanted to try out marathons. He had done a bunch. I'd seen him run before and I was like, okay, I wanna give that a go.

I was always better at the long runs and the longer races than I was at the sprint. So I was like, okay, maybe I could be good at the marathon. And so he's. Coached me for two marathons now, and this is gonna be my third one. And my first marathon was Eugene three years ago. I I debuted with a 2 38 something.

Your debut was 2 38? Yes. And then that's pretty impressive. Last year I came to Boston and I thought I was in shape for a two 30. Yeah. Based off all my workouts and everything, I heard some people say, Hey, don't try to PR on Boston your first time. Yeah. I heard some people be like, Hey man, if you're in [00:02:00] shape, like for it, do what you can.

And, I was on pace through about 16, and then the wheels came off hard. No. Slowly falling off. It was just got a little cocky, huh? Straight into it. I went out the first three miles I stayed on pace. Yeah. And of course my dad afterwards Hey I know you're a little stubborn. So he was like, I wasn't gonna tell you not to go for it, but he was like, yeah, I knew this was a possibility.

So I ended up running a 2 48 and all year. Every now and then he'd have a little jab saying Hey, like you have a faster marathon time than me, but you don't have a faster Boston time than me. So I signed up for Boston again. Yeah. And that's kinda my sea goal is to get a 2 46, 2 46 30 or under to get his time.

I think he told me his best was 2 46 0 1. So that's his pr. Oh, okay. His Boston course time is a 2 46 40 something. Oh, good. Good. So I think that's doable for you B goal, what's the A goal? And so B goal is what I think I'm in shape for based off not the best training block. But I think I'm in like that 2 40, [00:03:00] 2 42 range.

Okay. And then if we got good weather, if everything feels good and I don't go out too fast or anything, I think I'm in shape for a a pr. Just depending on weather and how my stomach feels and all that type of stuff, you never know what the marathon. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about like your first marathon, at Boston, which was the wheels came off, but what did that mean to you?

'cause Eugene was the qualifying marathon. But then what did that mean to you to go to Boston? Did you know much about it? Know your dad is probably talked about it a lot. Yeah. Because that's all he does is run, so I think my dad doing it so much. Yeah. And me seeing him run all the time, it's not took the nostalgia out of it, but everybody's, oh, I qualified for Boston.

Boston's such a big deal. And it's my dad ran it every year. I didn't think it was anything special. Yeah. In a way. And so I came in and I was like, I want a pr. I had a very unconventional first Boston experience. My brother, my sister, two of my sisters, my niece and one of my old college friends and my dad, they all came, my dad ran it last year, but we got an [00:04:00] Airbnb.

Like 30, 40 minutes outside of Boston. And they drove me and my dad to the start lines take a bus. We walked to the start line like a half a mile to a mile. And so it was a very unconventional Boston experience, not being around Boston too much other than the packet pickup. So this year I was like, okay, I'm gonna come in, like I'm staying in Boston, get the, I'm taking the yellow bus out and I'm doing the whole thing and just getting the feel of Boston.

And it's already been different than last year and I've really enjoyed just being in the town, walking around and just seeing all the jackets and all the faces. And it's been already a different but really exciting experience. So it's funny that you say that because. I went to this Desiree Linden and Kara Goucher, they have the live podcast.

And one of the questions that somebody asked was, so Des, since you're no longer an elite athlete, are you gonna start taking the yellow bus? And she said, never. I'm always gonna be VIP, but she's done it a lot. Yeah. So that's, fair. She's earned it. She's earned it, but a little bit more.

She's [00:05:00] won, the marathon. But all so the experience you are trying to soak in the entire experience this time and, I get to run with your dad this morning and that was a cool experience. He is talking about, you guys are close to the finish line ish, a mile away from Park Plaza and stuff like that. So anything that, what does this mean to you though? Like this particular Boston, any special thing that. From a meeting now that you've had one and you didn't. Special, but it wasn't, I think just getting to be out here last time it was like a lot of my family and now it's just me and my dad.

Yeah. So it's been a really cool trip getting to just spend time with him, like running what we have in common a lot. Yeah. And it's what's kept our relationship really like tight. So just being able to have him here support me instead of coming out and being alone. It's been.

That's been really nice. Something that just to get off a little bit is you're a wrestling or you're act Yeah. A wrestling coach, wrestling coach. And I know you run cross country, some there just, or with the cross country team. Can you talk about so usually you are pushing your kids or those kids to the college kids to.

Do something amazing and now, your dad is pushing you. [00:06:00] Talk about that dynamic a little bit or, yeah, so I've always been the type of athlete that, like I look at what the coaches and what other people are doing and so one of my biggest coaching methods is I don't wanna tell you to do something I'm not willing to do myself or that I didn't do when I was as.

Student athlete. Yeah. And so for me to tell the guys like, Hey, you have to live the lifestyle of going to bed on time, eating a good diet, drinking water over like soda and stuff. Like I feel bad if I'm telling all my guys to like, live this lifestyle. Yeah. And I'm over here not doing it myself. And so having the marathon to keep me accountable, having that goal every year, every so often of Hey, you have to train for this.

You have to be bought in a hundred percent. I feel like it helps me be a better coach. I can't check out, I have to stay focused year round. I, it can be always easy, but that's part of your job and, do they know that you're running the Boston Marathon and or anything like that?

Or is it just like whatever? Yeah. A bunch of the guys asked for a way to track me and so some of them are gonna be keeping up. And following along. I got a nice group of guys that are super supportive. [00:07:00] They understand me not being on campus Monday, Tuesday, and they're like, yeah, dude. Go crush it.

So I, I have a really good group of guys, so it's been awesome to have their support, especially the wrestlers. Do they think you're crazy to do this kind of stuff? Yep. I'll come in before or after a lift and I'll just oh, I just got done with six or eight miles and they're just like, that's stupid.

But yeah, it was practice. Yeah. Yeah. So they're always just like amazed when I tell them, come some of my times and my paces, and they're just like, yeah, I'm happy that I don't have to run any of. Yeah, I think you're a stud. How old are you? You gotta be 27. 27. The, you are on your first marathon.

It's 2 39 high. 2 38. 2 38. Yeah. Man, it's pretty impressive. Just if you get a chance to continue on this journey of marathoning. My thing is that you can get into two twenties, there's no doubt about it. This year was really stressful stepping up as the head coach. Yeah. Had some life stuff come up my.

Training for this field wasn't as good, but that's definitely one of my goals. As in the I was talking to my dad. It's as I've gotten towards the [00:08:00] end of this field, I've gotten like excited. I know you're not supposed to look for the next race before this one's over, but maybe we go to London next year and trying to find like something to.

Keep the excitement up. Yeah. So I can get to that goal. Anything that, we missed, or that you would maybe give advice to maybe first time Boston marathoners or even, look, you've probably run three marathons and Yeah. Pretty impressive by the way. It's probably good that you get one outta the way that.

You didn't have such a great marathon. It's okay. Any kind of thoughts around that? Obviously for Boston, everybody tells you like, go out too fast. Yeah. I thought I was going out controlled and I went out on pace. Yeah. And that was still too fast. Yeah. And so it's going out a little bit slower than what you want your goal pace to be and hitting those negative split splits in that back half.

Something my dad told me last year. Was however many people pass you in the first six miles is the amount of people you're gonna pass in the second six mile in the last six miles. Yeah. And so just like a good kind of visual to think as somebody blows past you Hey, you don't have to go with 'em.

Yeah. And then [00:09:00] staying and check with your gels and your nutrition and water. Not doing anything crazy on race day, but being able to know what your stomach can handle, finding the right brand, and do your own thing. Don't worry about what everybody else is doing, what brand they're wearing, what gels they're taking.

Just kinda like doing your own thing. Yeah, I know I'm an outlier. I wear new balance and it's what fits my foot. It, I've had the least amount of injury since I switched to 'em. And then I use a lot of, you can. Last year I tried a bunch of different gels and yeah, my stomach got a little upset partway through and so it's, you can sit really well.

That's what I used for my first marathon and I'm going back to 'em for this one. So good. Nathan, thanks so much for coming on to DFW Running Talk. Thank you everyone for tuning in and make sure you rate and review us and subscribe to our newsletter at dfw running talk.substack.com. Thanks everyone.

That was awesome.