Boulder runner Zach Hine, 25, recently placed eighth overall and was the fifth American finisher at the 2013 Falmouth Road Race in Falmouth, Mass., in August. Hine, who was the second American finisher at the 2011 Boston Marathon, is training for a fall marathon, but hasn’t yet decided which one he’ll run.
We caught up with Hine to ask him about his running career at Cornell, his mom and why he moved to Boulder.
Your mom actually got you started running, right?
She’s been running for a long time. She’s done a bunch of marathons. I got into running through her in fourth or fifth grade, but I didn’t really like it that much at first. I played soccer and baseball my freshman year of high school and I was actually pretty terrible at both of those sports. I didn’t play at all freshman year. The cross country coach approached me after my freshman year and said I should come out for the cross country team, so I did.
(My mom) still likes to remind me that I hated running my whole childhood (laughing).
After high school you went on to run at Cornell, where you earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. What did you do after college?
I had a great time there. I did a post-grad year there and that was my first experience running on roads. I qualified for the Olympic trials in March of 2010, I think, at the New York City Marathon, so after that I decided to sort of pursue running full time. One of my old teammates had just moved back to the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project in Michigan and he recommended that I check it out. I flew out there and they accepted me, and in October of 2010 I moved out there.
What led you to move to Boulder?
I went back to Massachusetts in the fall of 2011 and I trained there for the fall and ran the Olympic trials in January of 2012. During that time I was mainly training by myself. It was just not going well. I didn’t run particularly well at the trials. I was sick of training by myself so I visited a couple places. I had a few friends in Boulder and Eugene, Ore., so I visited both places and Boulder won out I guess. I moved out here in April of 2012 and I’ve been training with Brad Hudson ever since.
You finished No. 8 overall and you were the fifth American at the 2013 Falmouth Road Race. How do you feel about your race there?
I was really happy. It was a hot day there, and I think I ran maybe about 20 or 30 seconds faster than I did two years ago. I moved up about 10 places or so, and eighth place, fifth American in that field was something I was really happy with. I had beaten some guys that were really good, so I was excited about that. I thought it was a great end to my season. Looking at the field and the course and the weather, I felt that was probably about as well as I could’ve run on that day.
Which fall marathons are you considering for 2013?
I’m still deciding. The ones I’m considering are New York City or California International. Ideally it would be one of those but there may be some other possibilities. I’m taking a few days off after Falmouth to let my body heal up and I like about three months to train.
Contact Sarah Kuta at 303-473-1106 or kuta@coloradodaily.com
