Congrats on your win in Edinburgh! How did it feel to defend your title?

It felt painful and cold. I've had to miss a few structured workouts this past month or so to nurse a couple minor ailments, so I knew the race would be a bit tougher than last year. I never felt particularly comfortable but I was fortunate to get the win.

The course looked really tough with all the mud and hills, and I heard the broadcaster say there was sleet! What was it like running through those conditions?

Fortunately we were spared the the sleet as the really harsh weather didn't hit until the senior women's race. The wind and the mud were certainly challenging but that's what I've come to expect from the European XC races. Mostly I just try to focus on keeping my legs cycling and not asking too much from the ground on each stride- because it doesn't have much to give back.

Your former Stanford teammate Jake Riley came on strong in the final loop and finished second. Were you ever nervous that Jake might pass you?

Definitely. Jake and I have trained and raced together a lot through the years so I know that he's a very disciplined and competitive racer. I started a little faster than was prudent and I knew that Jake had gone out more conservatively so when I didn't feel great there was a good chance he'd come back on me. There's a little creek jump with 200 to go or so and then it's downhill to the finish so I just focused on maintaining my gap to that point and then figured I could hold him on the downhill. I was definitely digging into the reserves of pride you find when you're racing a really good friend.

Another Stanford alum and former teammate Garrett Heath won the 4k as well, what was it like having a Stanford contingent run well there?

It was great to have a chance to hang out with those guys as we are now separated by a fair bit of distance. Having awesome teammates was a huge reason why I enjoyed college so much, so it's always great to see them and relive the glory days.

There are so many Stanford athletes that continue to have success post-collegiately, why do you think that is?

As with anything truly great, it's difficult to say precisely what it is about Stanford that makes it such a breeding ground for excellence. Sitting here, trying to enumerate it's excellent qualities, I'm overwhelmed by it's sheer awesomeness. I mean, just look that this picture: http://stanford.edu/about/images/intro_about.jpg. Enough said, as far as I'm concerned.

What is your most bizarre pet peeve?

I absolutely hate the way people crowd around the baggage claim at airports. (Mounts Soapbox) Like, it would be so much easier if everyone just stood a few paces back and then calmly stepped forward when they saw their bag coming instead of crowding around the carousel, boxing out someone's Grandma like the last steak on earth was coming down the belt. No one is willing to place the good the of the whole above their burning desire to be as close to circulating luggage as possible. Every time I see It's A Beautiful Mind I think they should use this to explain Nash Equilibrium instead of that thing about women in bars*. There are those who would claim that humans are inherently good, rational beings, superior to the beasts. Well those people are wrong and they can go collect the proof along with their suitcase at Baggage Claim #6. *Plus the example they chose is not actually a Nash Equilibrium. Incidentally, misrepresentation of landmark economic theories in Academy Award winning movies is another pet peeve of mine. (Dismounts Soapbox)

What super hero would you trade lives with and why?

Some people answer this question based on who has the coolest powers. Me, I'm looking for whoever is the most well adjusted. It seems like every super hero origin story begins with some sort of tragic death or deforming event. Sure, it'd be great to fly and shoot laser beams out of my eyes like Superman, but he's the last surviving member of his home planet, living alone amongst an alien race, and he has the constant stress of living a double life. On top of that he's got the whole "I just found out the people I thought were my real parents found me in a cornfield" thing. I mean, you'd need his super strength just to carry around that kind of baggage. When I was a kid I wanted to be Batman but I think by this standard he's clearly out; his therapy bills are more expensive than the Batmobile. So after a lot of thought, I've decided to go with the Green Lantern/Hal Jordan because he's got some cool powers and a cursory google search reveals no cataclysmic trauma in his past. Seems like a solid life.

Describe your childhood dream.

It's the final seconds of the NCAA basketball tournament. I'm a 6'7" point-forward who's carried a 7-seed St. John's team (my Aunt works in their athletic department) to the title game through a mixture of crafty scoring moves, devastating shooting, heady passing, and stifling defense. Down one to UNC, I use a hesitation dribble and a blindingly quick cross over to blow by my defender, spin past a second man, and take a pull up jumper from the foul line right in the face of their 7-foot, All-American shot blocker who is quickly closing down on me. Not quick enough. As the buzzer sounds, the ball finds nothing but the bottom of the net. I find immortality. My final stat line: 27 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists, 4 steals. These heroics, my chiseled jaw line, and reserved, humble demeanor land me the beautiful girl I've had a crush on since freshman year (despite my basketball stardom I am still very shy- I tried to keep my dreams realistic). I then go on to a 15 year NBA career as an All-Star, a NBA champion, and, most importantly, a great teammate.

Describe your fondest race memory.

My senior year we won both State and Nationals after being 9th in the state the year before. It was a really close group of guys that had worked together for a long time. We had somewhat unrealistic dreams that happened to work out. Our number 2 man got a stress fracture halfway through the year and ran state after a week of running. He was in all-state position and then collapsed with 300 to go and finished as our 6th man. So for a while after the race thing were pretty tense because we thought it all might come down to his injury. Then one of our coaches, whose this big, squarely built guy that loves the WWE came running up to the bus with the results giggling like a schoolgirl and also crying and hugging everyone. Plus we beat York, the dominant power in Illinois XC. They always wore tuxedos to the awards ceremony so we had gone to a thrift shop and bought the rattiest sport coats and pants we could find and wore those. I'd feel bad about so obviously thumbing our noses at the competition, but the tuxedos are obnoxious. I'd do it again.

If you had a day off from your everyday responsibilities, describe how you would spend it.

I'm going to put scare quotes around "responsibilities" because let's be honest, self glorifying tweets about sacrifice and victory aside, being a professional runner is pretty chill. But if I could design the perfect day off it would probably be something like:
-Golf in the morning with my Dad, Brother, and Uncle Jim. Early tee time so the course is wide open.
-Brunch
-Either Ultimate Frisbee or 3 on 3 basketball until my quads feel like lead. My friends and I take on a series of progressively better rivals, prevailing each time.
-Nap
-Late summer evening BBQ with all the people I like. Mountain lake or Ocean setting. Fire figures prominently.

Describe your most embarrassing moment as an athlete.

My truly most embarrassing moment involves sacred team tradition and nudity so we'll just skip that one. At Pac 10's in cross country my freshman year three Oregon guys were breaking away a k into the race. I turned to my teammates and made this really dramatic pointing gesture all, "into the breach dear friends!" They just sort of shook there heads like, "there's 7k left Freshman. Calm down." Then I felt like an idiot.

Tell us about your favorite memory with one of your current or past training partners.

In college myself and a few guys went on a series of summer road trips all around the west coast just camping, running, and playing cards. I couldn't really say what we did beyond that but it was a blast.

Describe the perfect post-race meal in detail.

1. Walk into Chipotle.
2. Stand in line while mindlessly checking twitter on phone.
3. Order burrito (chicken, brown rice, black beans, fajitas, pico, medium, AND corn salsa, guac, and lettuce)
4. Yes, I know that guac is extra.
5. Pay for burrito.
6. Enjoy with Chipotle-Tabasco sauce.

What "Most Likely To" superlative would you be most honored to receive and why?

Most Likely To Help A Friend. Every Christmas my family watches "It's a Wonderful Life" and I've always felt like George Bailey was the model of how to live a good life. He was willing to give up all his personal dreams of glory to be a force for good in a small town. As someone who is driven by those dreams of glory (professional runners sometimes seem to live the anti-George Bailey life) I've always tried to hold that in mind as the counterweight to the selfish, striving "achiever" motivations. I can't say I've done a good job, but at least I think about it every once in a while, right?

Describe your favorite workout.

Probably a solidly paced long run in a nice place. Mainly for the post-run brunch.

Who is your childhood hero and why?

I don't know if I had a true childhood hero growing up. It'd probably be Derek Jeter because I was a huge Yankees fan and, well, he's the Captain.

Describe your guilty pleasure.

As a confirmed Catholic, I associate all pleasure with guilt and therefore find this question overly broad. I suppose if I had to pick something (and I do) I'd say binge listening to history podcasts. Especially Hardcore History by Dan Carlin and Revolutions by Mike Duncan. I listen to them pretty much anytime I'm alone and not doing something that requires reading or typing (driving, shopping, cooking, etc). This is kind of crappy answer because I don't really feel guilty about this. I suppose my 8th grade self would be mortified that I'm admitting this publicly, but I'm too big to fit into middle school lockers now, so I think it's safe.

If you could give one piece of advice to any runner that is looking to compete at the next level, what would it be and why?

Don't try and be somebody else's version of a "champion". Recognize your own strengths and style and build out from there. Also, don't get hurt. Describe your favorite place to run or train.

I always love running the trails west of the Stanford campus up towards the ridge line. The weather is pretty much always fantastic and there's just something about the rolling foothills I really like. The Skyline trail up on top of the ridge is the best single track I've ever run.

Dinner with 3 (living or dead); who and why?

1. Winston Churchill. Incredibly well-read. Preposterous. Quotable.
2. Julius Caesar. I'm just very curious to know what he's like. With more modern figures we have a much clearer idea but he's still more myth than man.
3. John Darnielle. One of my favorite musicians. Brings wit, intelligence, and off beat pop-culture references. Also, after two narcissistic, power hungry world leaders, it'd be nice to have a humble, decent person in the mix.

What story/novel do you think best describes your life right now and why?

I want very badly to have an awesome answer to this question so I can prove that I'm intellectual and stuff, but I went out a little aggressively on the first few questions and now I'm all used up. I guess I've always thought that training was a bit like the myth of Sisyphus (the actual myth, not the Albert Camus treatise I never finished). You have a great workout or a great day of training or a great race, and fill in your running log all nice a pretty like and it feels like you've really accomplished something. Then the next morning you have to get up and do it again and it just sort of goes on like that. So, um, I guess we're all rolling the rock up the hill over and over again, but, like, metaphorically. Except we have nap breaks.

What does racing/training look like for you in the next 6 months?

I'll be focusing on the US Cross Country Championships (and World's if I qualify) and the 10k at the outdoor track championships. Everything else is pretty up in the air.