TH E FAST L AN E
JOE GRAY oe Gray recently won his 14th USA Track and Field National title at the US Mountain J Running Championships. The 34-year-old trains with the American Distance Project in Colorado Springs and is currently preparing to represent the United States for the 11th
consecutive time at the World Mountain Running Championships in Canillo, Andorra on September 16. He won the World Mountain Running Championships in 2016 in Saparevya Banya, Bulgaria. He’s the 2016 and 2017 XTERRA World Mountain Running Champion and a 7 time recipient of the US Mountain Runner of the Year title. Yet, he’s not slowing down. Far from it. He continues to pile up the accolades and awards and has set his sights on more.
You’ve had so many successes as a runner. What do you feel has been the biggest highlight of your career? That’s a tough one to answer. So many races in different genres call for a different eye in terms of how you view the accomplishment. When I won the 2016 World Mountain Running Championships and led Team USA to a Gold medal, that moment was a high unlike any other I’ve experienced in Mountain Running in the midst of a team atmosphere. Then, when I won my first National Club Title in Cross Country, I believe that was such a shock not only to me but to my peers of whom many were considered much stronger runners on the track than 12 coloradorunnermag.com
I. Then also, when I ran 28:18 for 10K, that was again a big shock and also a very rewarding moment in my career. What keeps you motivated to keep training so hard? I have a lot of goals that I personally want to achieve. Being consistent is a tough thing to achieve long term, so I want to approach that goal with everything I have. In order to be consistent, you have to put in the work day in and day out.
Photography By RICHARD BOLT, MAGDALENA BOGDAN & RICK LOHRE
