January 4, 2022
“Even when running sucks and I’m not having any fun with it, I keep coming back to it. That keeps paying off because running, more than any other sport, rewards you for showing up every day and continuing to work hard.”
Welcome to 2022! We’re back with recent 2:14 Marathoner and Haverford grad, Dylan Gearinger. Like many runners, Dylan didn’t start out as a runner. He focused on football and baseball but a string of concussions from football forced Dylan to find a new athletic outlet.
He responded well to running as the team environment was friendlier than his football and baseball teams. Dylan began to see his potential in running as he became the top runner for his high school team his senior year.
A mysterious illness consumed Dylan’s life as he was unable to get a proper diagnosis of what was keeping him ill for extended periods. Once at Haverford, he was able to get treatment from UPenn which turned his health and running around. The restored health allowed him to train consistently and stack high mileage weeks together. By his junior year track season, the culmination of mileage paid off with an Indoor 3k National Title.
After a disappointing senior xc season and other personal reasons, Dylan left the team and ran unattached for both indoor and outdoor season. Under the Philly Runner Track Club, he ran 7:59.74, the unofficial #2 time in D3 History.
The high mileage college days made for an easy transition into the marathon. Dylan knew he would be a strong marathoner but never expected to bust out a 2:14 so early in his marathon career. Dylan was a Top 20 Marathoner in the US among all courses and tied for 10th on record eligible courses in 2021. Dylan will be the one to watch for in 2022 as he eyes the Chicago Marathon in the fall.
Dylan’s story shows that a running career isn’t a linear path and consistency pays off.
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Notable Quotes and Show Notes
On Showing up everyday:
“Even when running sucks and I’m not having any fun with it, I keep coming back to it. That keeps paying off because running, more than any other sport, rewards you for showing up every day and continuing to work hard.”
On being rejected from other D3 Schools:
“My teammate, Greg Morgan, and I actually got an identical email back from the same assistant coach after emailing a head coach. It was like, ‘You’re not good enough to walk on here.’ We joked about that a lot because we were the 2018 and 2019 National Champs in the 3k.”
On Running with Others:
“The cool part about running isn’t the fast times, it’s running with an awesome community. You get to do it with cool people and that is what makes it fun for me.”
On Dealing with Bad Races:
“At that point, I felt like I was doing the mileage to punish myself for a bad race rather than to get better. And I don’t think that’s a good way to actually get better at running.”
On Bouncing back:
“The main thing for any runner is that you have to have a short memory. You can’t let a bad race snowball into a bunch of bad races because there just aren’t that many races in a cross-country season.”
On How He Views Himself:
“I’m definitely a marathoner now. The marathon is the first distance that I feel like actually makes sense to me.”
Stu Newstat