North Carolina State's underclassmen Ryan Hill had a huge 2009-2010 running campaign, whether he'd like to admit it or not. The Hickory, N.C. native ran at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan, took 23^rd at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, set a big personal-best in the 5,000-meter run—clocking 13 minutes, 44.36 seconds at the Payton Jordan Invitational, garnering multiple All-American honors and most recently taking seventh at the USA Track and Field Championships in the 1,500 meters (which isn't his primary distance). Hill will still tell you that this wasn't a “breakout” season and the best is yet to come. Follow this runner closely over the next few years and expect big things!

What's a typical day for you right now?

Right now I'm in the car with my girlfriend going back to Raleigh. We're going out to Colorado for some altitude training with the team next week. I just got back from Ohio, where I was visiting a friend in Cedar Point. That's it right now. It's a little hectic. If I wasn't driving around right now, I'd be sitting at home hanging out with my old high school friends.

What's this Colorado trip going to be like?

We're going to be out there for about three weeks. We did it last year and we'll get a house in Boulder—maybe 10 or 15 of us. We'll hang out and run in the morning, maybe go down to Denver. Last year it was really fun and we'll try to get some good training in again this year.

Mileage?

I'm a little behind on my mileage right now because I started the season a little later. I'm going to try to be up at 90 by that third week.

In one of your recent Flotrack interviews with Justin, you were reluctant to call 2009-2010 a “breakout season” for you. Why?

I guess because I didn't make the jump up to the top group. When I think of a “breakout year”, I think of someone on the top at nationals. Someone winning nationals. It was a big jump, but I'm reluctant to say “breakout”. I'm definitely happy with it. I met all my goals, I guess when you meet all your goals, well, you have to make new ones. That's the process I'm in right now.

Great segue, my friend. What are these next goals?

In cross country, me and Coach Geiger both think that I should get up there in the top 10 in the nation. The ultimate goal is winning a national championship. That's a little pipe dream we have. I want to win ACCs as well and the team to get in the top 10. That's a big one right now.

5K/10K/1,500 times? Anything you want to throw out there?

That's a long time from now, but thinking about next year's track...I would definitely like to break 13:30 in the 5K. That's a pretty big mark. Who knows when I'll even do a 15. I never know when I'm going to do those right there. I guess just keep improving that time.

Are you looking to be a 15/5K runner or a 5K/10K runner?

I don't want to pin myself down and say, “oh, I like to run the 5K” or “I like to run the 15 or even the 10K.” I want to be open to run all three of them. We haven't really talked about it yet, we're focused on the cross season. I have no idea about the season yet and those are just broad goals.

Overall, do you have a preference between cross country and track?

Man, that's tough. I really like the team portion of cross country. That makes it a lot more fun. The training and the races are way more fun. The, within track, I'm really liking the 15. It's a lot more fun than the 5K.

You're pretty close to home—what, maybe about two and a half hours or so?

Exactly! It's about two and a half hours. It's not too bad.

How often do you make that trek during the school year?

Really once I'm training, I don't go home much. I probably go home the same amount as people who live far away do. It's really just after the semesters are over or when my running is over. Once I'm in training, I'm really in Raleigh a lot of the time.

Will your family come out and check out most of your races?

During the season I'll see my parents at races more than anything else. That's when I get to see them during the season.

Do you get food delivery or anything like that?

No way. I don't ask them to give me food delivery, just to see me every now and then and spend time with me.

Are there any disadvantages to being that close to home?

I wouldn't say that there's any disadvantages. I could—I do have the option of going home any weekend I'd like. It's an advantage. I'm the kind of person where it doesn't bother me if it's far away or close. Honestly, there aren't any disadvantages. My parents don't come by and surprise me or anything like that.

When you do get that rare weekend off during the year, what are you guys doing for fun?

During football season, a guy on the team—Patrick Campbell—has season tickets to the Carolina Panthers games. We like to sneak in two or three Panthers games. Around Raleigh, there's a few of us who like to play disc golf. We go out and do that or play basketball. That's mostly what we do, but those Panthers games I'm really looking forward to in the fall!

How would you sum up Coach Geiger?

Coach Geiger...(laughs). He's a great coach. I'm never hesitant to follow his advice. He's been around so long and he's had so many good runners that I trust him fully. His personality—he's really funny, first off...in a really funny sort of way. That really odd, dry humor. That's kind of how I am, so we get along well.

Was there any getting used to him or was it a smooth transition from high school?

I would say that I'm much closer with Coach Geiger now than I was when I came into college, yeah. It took about a semester for us to come to each other and be open and joke around. We have that kind of relationship now.

Have you had any hand in the process of recruiting those coming in?

I've pretty much had a hand in every guy recruited so far. Me and Patrick Campbell take all the recruits out to dinner and are involved in that stuff. I guess I have a pretty big hand in the recruiting. One thing we do with recruits is that we be ourselves. We don't try to do too many special things. We hang out and go to dinner. Our philosophy is if we're not being ourselves, then they're not really going to be happy when they do come. That's how we do it. No BS.

What sold you on NC State?

I used to live in Raleigh. I was born and lived in Raleigh for about ten years. I already knew that I liked the town and knew I wanted to go back. That was a big thing. A lot of my friends are around and I still get to see them a lot. I'm a big State fan and my mom actually went to NC State, so I feel like a school would have had to steal me from State. And no one did...so I'm here.

Did you look any other places?

Actually, I only took other visits to Louisville and Virginia. At the beginning of high school, I was looking at Arkansas, Wisconsin, Colorado...big time programs would call me. They never did and I stayed in state and went to NC State.

And you're the North Carolina record holder at 5,000 meters?

Yeah, I guess they're considering that McAlpine course record. The guy—Jake—might have tied me this year, so I guess I'm the co-holder.

How did you get into this sport in the first place? Was your mother a runner at NC State?

No one ran. My mom ran in high school, but kind of just as something to do. I guess from the elementary school, middle school run stuff, I knew I was pretty good. I played baseball and once I found out I wasn't really big enough to excel at baseball, I went ahead and tried to do some summer track. I took off from there because I pretty much had instant success. I wanted to take it a little farther.

What were the times you were initially seeing?

Not really great times. When I did summer track that eighth grade year, I ended up going to the nationals and I ran a 9:47 3K. I'm not really sure how that is. That's a solid time. I knew I had a future in running and knew I wanted to pursue it.

I know I'm having trouble getting you to talk about anything past cross country, but what are your long-term goals with running?

Like I said, and it's kind of a pipe dream, but it's a dream everyone should have—to win a national championship. Coach Geiger and NC State have never had a male national champion. That would be pretty incredible to be the first guy to do that. That's still pretty much a long shot in the career right now. That's something that I keep reaching for and you've got to get in the top 10 before you can go for a win. So, that's where I am at this point.

You think you're a top-10 runner?

I think I can do that this year. I really think I can do it.

What are you studying?

I'm a sports management major and I'm really not too interested in school. I don't have a thing that I really love doing. I really love sports, so I went with sports management, but I really don't know what I'm going to do with that.

You'd stay in the realm of athletes or runners maybe?

Definitely. Definitely. Being a coach one day is definitely something I could see myself doing one day. Anything working in athletics would be pretty fun.

What is your morning-of-race meal?

It's always four hours out from the race and I always have this protein Powerbar and that's all I do. A protein Powerbar and a Gatorade four hours out and that's it. Real simple.

If you could have one meal, prepared by anyone, what would you have and who would make it?

My gosh! One meal. Maybe this meal is on my mind right now because I just had it, but there's this place called “Frankie's Pizza” in Hickory and every time I go back to Hickory, I have to have this New York-style pizza and I've never had any better pizza. Maybe it's just on my mind because I just had it, but I'm going to go with that for right now. Frankie's Pizza.

Toppings?

Pepperoni and onion. Real simple, but it's the best I've ever had.

What if you told that to John Martinez, a New York guy? What would he say to that kind of claim?

I would love to come to New York to try his pizza, but my friend down here from New York say that all the pizza he's had up there has been no good.

Can you share a crazy running-related story?

I think that one stands out in my mind—and, yes, my girlfriend is motioning to me that she knows the one I'm about to tell. My first run after NCAAs in cross country this past year, it was supposed to be a little 20-minute shakeout run. I went out and about 20 minutes in, a truck pulls up beside me and it's a really old man asking for directions. I stop real suddenly and lean in to talk to him and I start getting light-headed. I don't really notice this. The next thing I remember is waking up, face down, in the middle of the street. It took about 10 seconds for me to kind of remember where I was or what I was doing. I thought, “oh, man, I was running and I must have passed out talking to that guy.” The guy had driven away and I don't know what happened. Well, I tried to get back as soon as possible. I kept running. After about 10 seconds, I ran my tongue across my teeth and I could feel them jagged and tore up. I put my hand up to my mouth and there was just blood every where. I was like, “oh, no! I hit my face.” The next car that came around was a cop car. He called the ambulance for me and blood was gushing out of my mouth all over my face. It was nasty. Yup, that was the run where I passed out and busted my face up. I had to get route canals and all that. My coach was all worried for about a month there, worried that I could pass out again. I haven't passed out since.

What was the cause? Have you any idea what happened?

My only thought is that stopping so suddenly made my blood stop circulating and I just passed out for whatever reason and just happened to land on my face. I busted three of my teeth up.

About the Running Warehouse:

My KWIK-Es are sponsored by runningwarehouse.com, located on the California coast in the small community of San Luis Obispo. The folks over there include one of the owners, Joe Rubio, a two hour, 18-minute marathoner and current head coach of the Asics Aggie RC. Jonathan Spiros oversees footwear buying and served many years as assistant coach at College Park High School helping Lindsay Allen. Erik Dube is in charge of accessories and helps with footwear buying. Erik has finished the Western States 100-Mile Race several times and was assistant coach at San Ramon Valley High School helping Scott Bauhs through high school. Erik’s wife, Tera, is in charge of customer service and is an ultra marathoner and former track star at Campolindo High School, where her brother Chuck Woolridge is currently head coach. The entire online and phone customer service representative staff at the Running Warehouse, including the staff listed above, have spent considerable time working the retail floor. This, along with the coaching and personal athletic experience, enables the company to have a unique perspective of understanding the needs of every level of runner from beginner to All-American. Check them out when you get a chance!