Interview: Bret Schoolmeester
October 25, 2009, 6:53AM
Courtesy Bret SchoolmeesterSchoolmeester at the 2008 NYC Half Marathon, where he ran a 1:05:34 and earned 16th place.
Another local runner, who just ran a 2:19:16 at the 2009 Chicago Marathon, is Bret Schoolmeester, who lives in Cornelius. A Bowerman Athletic Club teammate of Jason Effmann's (whom we interviewed yesterday), Schoolmeester has also been in our results postings, most recently for winning the men's 5,000m at the 2009 Portland Track Festivalin 14:22.95.
He started running as what Hank Williams, Jr. would call a "family tradition." Both his brother and his dad (who is still building on a 29 year streak of running every single day) are runners, and dedicated ones at that. "Watching him go out every day when I was growing up really instilled a sense of work ethic and an interest in running for me," he says. (This means his father started this streak even before Schoolmeester, who is 25, was born!) It also helped that his brother was a bit of a bully, so running allowed Schoolmeester to avoid his wrath.
Even though Schoolmeester takes 2-3 weeks off each year, the break leaves him feeling "like crap, and feel like I didn’t accomplish much because I didn’t run."
When he's not on those short breaks (usually 1-2 weeks, about twice a year), Schoolmeester runs daily. "I love the feeling of being really fit and ready to race, I don’t know if I would enjoy running as much if I wasn’t in really good shape." A challenge to fit in with a full-time job, a lovely wife and a beautiful daughter, time is the biggest obstacle to his training. His miles are logged in the early morning, at lunch, or whenever he's got a blank spot on the calendar.
