This month's featured runner is Eric Garber! He had a great month with a 59:33 5th place finish at Frosty's Frozen 10 mile and a quick 17:31 5k at the Yeti Chase for 6th this past weekend. You've likely seen Eric and his buddies in their Team Mooseparts singlets over the past several months. Read on for a quick interview with January's winner!
Let's start with the basics, how did you get into running? Any other sports you're into?
I always enjoyed running around and being active as a kid. I remember doing the mile run in elementary school for fitness testing and enjoying it; I think one year I even broke 7 minutes. In middle school I signed up for my first track meet where I ran the 400m and the 800m. I got a brown 8th place ribbon in each event – and there were 8 people in each race! It was then I knew that my sprinting career was probably over. In high school I intended to go out for the cross country team but lacked the motivation to actually try out. Then after my junior of high school I did my first triathlon and it made me realize how much I enjoyed running. After that summer I went and tried out for the cross country team my senior year, which cemented my love for running. So I suppose the simple answer to your question would have just been that TRIATHLON got me into running!
Like many kids, I played all kinds of sports growing up, but these days I’m all about running, cycling, and triathlon. I do enjoy the occasional hike or snowshoe with my fiancé though.
Over the last year or so, you've drastically improved your PRs. What's led to your recent success?
Consistency. Ever since I moved out here from the Midwest in 2002, I’ve gone through LONG periods of training draughts. I have to credit the Team Mooseparts project for giving me the motivation to get that consistency back, especially my teammate - Andrew Knutsen. He has been a big influence on me and it was him who got reintroduced me to triathlon nearly 6 years ago. More recently his invitation to join him at the 2011 Honda LA Marathon was really what kicked everything into gear for a successful year. Prior to LA, my marathon PR was a decade old 2:59 (Disney World 1999), so running 2:53 in LA got a long standing monkey off of my back and really energized me to PR in as many distances as I could. After LA in March, I had a little trouble getting back into the training due to vacation, a couple of colds, etc.. When the triathlon season started, I literally RACED myself back into shape. I competed in 26 races in 2011, everything from 5K to 70.3, so I was forced to find a balance of training that incorporated a lot of triathlon training (or as runners would call it, cross training) to allow me to up my fitness without running so many miles that I risked injury.
I really do have to credit the Team aspect for much of my motivation to stay consistent through 2011. Of course, I can’t forget my fiancé, Jaddy, who is not only a member of the Team, but also supports me unconditionally.
What is your year looking like in terms of racing? Will we see that low 2:50s marathon PR drop some more this year?
I am planning another busy year of races for 2012. My big goals are a 2:45 or better at the California International Marathon in December, a 1:16 or better in the half marathon (running the Boulder Spring in April and the Rock’n’Roll Denver Half in September), and a sub-17 5K somewhere before the close of 2012. My exact racing schedule is somewhat of a work in progress that I’ve been keeping up to date on our Team Mooseparts website.
2012 is going to be an extremely exciting year not only because I have some pretty lofty time goals, but I have also joined the KompetitiveEdge Triathlon Race team, where I am getting great support and inspiration from Jared, Ryan and Brandon. I am also meeting some awesome triathletes that are motivating me to get in some winter bike miles (which is something that I have never been good at in the past)…All of this will help my racing, both running and triathlon, this year. I am not a 100 mile per week pure runner, my biggest mileage week in 2011 was 50, so I really do rely on cycling, swimming, and lifting to help my running times and keep me injury free.
What do you and your crew envision happening with Team Mooseparts? You don't see a lot of non store or brand sponsored teams and you guys have already made a splash. Anything we need to be watching for this year?
I am constantly amazed at the response we get from our Team Mooseparts project. It started out as just a name that we called a group of 4 of us who all worked at the same company and trained together. We joked that if you had a good race or training session – “you brought your Mooseparts” and if you were dragging or particularly whiney – “you brought your Deerparts.” Now it’s grown to the point where I consider our official roster to be ~20 people. Only 5 of us actually have uniforms right now, so we will be working with our first official sponsor, The KompetitiveEdge, to get everyone outfitted in the next couple of months. Watch out for us at the Runnin’ of the Green Lucky 7K on March 11th as we will be out in FORCE!
With a goofy name like Team Mooseparts, I think it makes people laugh and let their guard down, so I constantly get comments about how we have the best team name and where can they get a t-shirt or when I’m racing a hear cheers such as “Go Moose Guy!” or “Show me your Mooseparts!”
This year you can look for Team Mooseparts to continue to grow our website, have regular group workouts and social events, participate in a lot of races, volunteer at several races, possibly have some t-shirts for sale, do some fundraising and hopefully pick up some additional sponsorships.
What do you do outside of running? You work at Lockheed, right?
Yes, I am a Systems Engineer at Lockheed Martin, which allows me to pay for all of the race entry fees! Over the last year my life has transformed quite a bit. When you race 26 times a year, it almost becomes a second career. Even with that much racing, I still make sure to give back to the running community by volunteering for some events as well.
Outside of all of the training and racing I do enjoy getting together with friends, playing games, and watching UFC and I just got engaged on Christmas Eve – so wedding planning as well these days.
I would very much like to thank Mizuno, Boulder Running Company and RunColo not only for honoring me as the Runner of the Month, but also for everything that you do for our local running community.
I can’t forget to thank my sponsor, KompetitiveEdge, for their support. Make sure to visit them for your triathlon needs and tell them that I sent you for 15% off in store or use the following code for 15% off on the web: ERICKE15. www.kompetitiveedge.com
If you can’t get enough of Team Mooseparts, be sure to bookmark our website (www.teammooseparts.com) and like us on Facebook to keep up with all of the new developments in 2012. For information about joining the team or just getting involved in the group workouts, please email us at teammoosepartsracing [at] gmail [dot] com.
Without Limits
The following errors occurred with your submission