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St. Louis Track Club Men's Elite Mile ADAM PERKINS
The season has had ups and downs. I was pretty pleased with opening the indoor season with a 4:01 mile, especially with coming off of a surgery last year. However, I didn't get to race many “races” after that one. I paced the Millrose Wanamaker mile and the Boston Indoor Games mile. Then raced the Tyson mile, but no one followed the rabbit and it was a sit and kick race. Then, I decided to get back to training to get ready for a solid outdoor season. I opened up at Drake, which as you mentioned was horrible weather. Again, it was a sit and kick race. I'm not much of a big kicker; I'm more of a strength runner. However, with that said, the Adidas meet this past weekend in Los Angeles was a disaster with the pace going out hard. I never got comfortable and never found my rhythm – Which now leaves me to the mile this weekend. I'm looking forward to racing it now that I have two races under me. I am the kind of runner who makes good progressions as the year goes on and as I get more races under me. 2. Many of the folks that will be in the stands on Saturday know you from your high school days at Liberty HS in Missouri . Tell us a little about your high school career and maybe highlight the most memorable moment from those years. I absolutely miss the high school days. It's funny because as the years go on I wish I could do it all over again. Whereas, when I was in high school, everyone wanted to graduate ASAP. The fans were great and very supportive of my running. I have so many memorable experiences from high school. I loved my teammates. Running the 4x800 at the state meet was always exciting. I think the fans love that relay race too. Nothing is quite like the rivalries we had with schools such as Ladue, West Plains, or SLUH. In fact, I remember my freshman year, my teammates shaved my head because they all wanted to have shaved heads for the relay...I recall kicking and screaming cause I didn't want to do it. Also, breaking the 1600 4a state record was a very memorable moment. 3. What are your goals for this season? The main goal for me is to have fun and stay healthy. Now that I am out of college sometimes it's hard to stay motivated, but as long as the passion and love for the sport is there, I want to compete. Also, since coming off of surgery, I want to put myself back in the mix amongst the professional runners. I want to make the finals of the USA Championships and from there I hope to go to Europe and get into some races. 4. How does the Big River Festival of Miles fit into your season and why did you choose to run it? I haven't had the opportunity to race much in my home state, so that is a reason for coming to this meet. Additionally, I have never actually broken 4 minutes for a ‘true' mile and I think it would be appropriate to do it for my first time in my home state of Missouri. Also, I really need to get in more races. In college we had many races every weekend or every other weekend, so I feel it was necessary to get another race. 5. How much of a difference does it make for you as an athlete to have a really big crowd at race? I love the crowd. They are what make it special. When great things happen in races, I think the crowd deserves a little bit of the glory. They fuel the flame in atmosphere. I think it's important for the sport to have big crowds, especially at races that are for a great cause, just like this one. Additionally, the crowd is probably what makes me nervous before races- but it is good nerves, it's euphoric. 6. Finally, knowing who is in the race and knowing your own fitness level how do you see the race playing out on Saturday without giving away any secret strategies of course! Secret strategies?… I'll do my best to keep my poker face on…With there being a pacer in the race; it changes a lot of the tactics. Usually, I'll just see how I am feeling at the 1k mark and if I'm feeling good, I'll just go for it. If not, I'll try to stay relaxed and focused and keep close to the pack and see how it unfolds. I just like to see an honest race; I think that's what makes the race interesting for the athletes and the spectators. Watch Adam run the 1500 at US Juniors when he was a HS senior! *** |
West County |
1. Adam, you seem to be having a pretty good start to 2009 with some solid indoor performances and a good competitive race at the Drake Relays in nasty conditions. How would you assess things so far? 
