Friday Focus: Tommy Awad

Friday Focus: Tommy Awad

Oct 27, 2014 by Giovanni Reyes
Friday Focus: Tommy Awad


In our weekly Q&A segment we asked Tommy Awad a few questions about life on and off the course. We caught up with him before he headed out to conferences.

Let us know what we can expect during this weekend at the Conference meet.

Hopefully a win individually and a team win. I think the Ivy League is really open this year and every team has a realistic shot at the title. I think you can expect a strong showing from Penn for sure. The hype for Saturday is real here in Philly, so I think that excitement will translate into a big race for us.

Describe your childhood dream.

My childhood dream was to be a professional athlete. I dreamt of being a professional basketball player or soccer player. Now, I’m excited to say I am still chasing my childhood dream.

Describe your fondest race memory.

My fondest race memory would have to be when I qualified for the Millrose Games my junior year of high school. That was a huge breakout race for me, and it was also the moment I realized the kind of potential I had in this sport.

Tell us something about yourself that you think no one knows.

Some people on the team know this, but not many. I’m actually a twin. I have a twin sister whom I am really close with. No she does not run. Both my sisters are more artistic and they do things in the art area.

If you weren't running, what would you be doing and why?

If I was not running, I probably would be a major computer science geek programming all the time. That’s my dream job if running wasn’t my top priority. I’m a horrible programmer, but I would have definitely pursued programming more if I was not running.

Describe your worst habit.

Probably that I can never finish my food. I don’t know why, but I always leave some left. Food makes me full and tired so it gets hard to eat after a while. Lyle always goes to dinner with me after practice so he can eat everything I don’t. The rare occasions I finish he is not very happy.

Describe the kind of kid you were in high school.

During the high school days I pretty much kept to myself. I did not really enjoy high school so I mostly went about my business and kept my head down. After school I was way more outgoing because I got to spend it in a more comfortable place, the track.

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

This is easy. I would spend all the hours either playing video games (probably hearthstone and pokemon) or watching anime. The guys on the team know I am a huge anime nerd and I play a lot of video games. I could really use a day off like that soon. lol

Describe your most embarrassing moment as an athlete.

I’d like to think I don’t do that many embarrassing things, but maybe thinking I won the indoor heps 3k last year, but actually I lost by a lot to the slow heat. That kind of sucked, and everyone got to watch me realize it from my coach thanks to you guys at FloTrack.



Describe the perfect post-race meal in detail.

Food is my mortal enemy, but if I had to choose, probably a really good steak, maybe porterhouse, some mushrooms and fish (swordfish?). That sounds pretty good to me!

Describe your favorite workout?

My favorite workout is probably a combo workout Coach Dolan has us do. We start with some threshold pace running, maybe 2-4 miles of it. We follow that with some 800s at 5k pace, and then some miler pace stuff. The miler stuff is usually 500, 300, 200, with the rest being jog the next distance. I like that one because I get to do a bit of everything and it’s nice getting used to running fast with some hard miles in your legs.

Dream place to run or train and why?

I’m not really sure. Definitely somewhere at altitude with a cool city nearby for stuff to do when I’m not running. Sounds a lot like Boulder, and that place was nice when I visited this summer. Maybe there.

Who is your childhood hero and why?

There are a lot of people who are very important to me, but I will have to go with my favorite anime/manga character, Monkey D. Luffy from the best manga ever One Piece. I know this is a really lame and nerdy answer, but reading the chapters every week with my sister when I was younger really taught me how to fight for the things I believe in and always follow my dreams. A lot of people view me as a weird, nerdy kid, but anime is something that I could never give up. I know for certain I would not be at Penn or running this well without it. It has shaped me into the person I am today.

Describe your guilty pleasure.

I am not guilty of my anime obsession, so I would have to go with my love for NASCAR. I am a huge NASCAR fan and I have gone to the last 3 races down in Dover. I love the 78 car (Martin Truex Jr.) even despite a controversial season last year. We didn’t make the Chase this year, but one more year with the new team will help!

If you could give one piece of advice you think every runner should hear, what would it be and why?

To win the race, you need to be in the race. Always give yourself a shot to make something happen. Put yourself in a position where you can win. That’s the least you can do for yourself. If you are in the mix, anything can happen.

If you had to listen to 1 song in your head every time you ran for the rest of you life, what would it be?

I would probably pick my favorite song from my favorite band. The song is In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 by Coheed and Cambria.

Dinner for 3 (living or dead) who and why?

I would pick the author/illustrator of my favorite manga, Eiichiro Oda. I want to meet the man who makes the greatest manga ever, obviously. The other would be Cleo Whiting. She’s a girl on the team who I always invite to go out to dinner with me, and she always declines. This would force her to get at least one meal with me.

Describe your pre-race ritual.

I don’t really have one. I just do everything that I need to be ready by race time. That could change day to day depending on how I feel. It’s important to read how your body feels, so you can make adjustments to your current needs.

November is upon us, we need a facial hair update!

So I have made a change to my facial hair plans. I just shaved recently down to slightly less facial hair. You can see updates on my twitter account (@Awad_of_Tom). After Penn upsets the Mid-Atlantic region and we qualify for NCAAs, I’ll facial strip to the mustache.

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

I haven’t thought too much about what will go on after cross, but I could take a guess. First things first is to focus on finishing off this season on a high note. Taper a bit, do a few more hard workouts; that kind of stuff. After cross I’ll probably start building my mileage back up and getting strong for indoor track season. What kind of races I’ll be running in track is a secret for now/ I don’t know what Coach Dolan has planned for me yet. We’ll see when track rolls around I guess.