Life of a Runner: Ben Mourer

Here is the portion of my blog where I feature different runners and their thoughts on a few different ideas. I hope that all of you enjoy reading and learning about different runners as much as I do. If you would like to be featured as a runner, send me an email! I would be more than happy to feature any runner who contacts me!

Life of a Runner: Ben Mourer, 30

Coe College Head Cross Country Coach

Ben Mourer, far left

How long have you been running for? What is your running history like?

I’ve been running almost as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are running laps around an old cinder track during my older brother’s Pop Warner Football games. I would have been about 7 or 8 years old and could usually put in 3 or 4 miles during a half of football. I had a few down years and then ran competitively through high school and college. Lately my running has been pretty relaxed as I focus far more on coaching.

What shoes are you using right now?

I’m alternating between pairs of Mizuno Wave Riders and Brooks Ghosts. I’ve never been overly partial to any one brand and have run in everything from Asics to New Balance and Adidas to Sacuony. It’s all about finding shoes models (not brands) that work for you.

What would you say is your favorite race that you have ever ran?

The 2006 NCAA Cross Country National Championships. The course was insanely muddy, I ran my slowest time of the season, but had one of my best national finishes and my team had a third place finish. It was an amazing day that I got to share with an amazing group of friends and teammates.

Ben, #7

What is the most interesting thing that has ever happened to you on a run?

A former teammate and I once ran across a frozen creek during the first week of March. Then about a week later, after a good thaw, the same teammate and I swam across the creek in the same place. It was cold, dangerous (bordering on dumb) but a lot of fun.

Favorite post-run food?

Chocolate Milk. Hands down.

If you could run a race anywhere in the world, where would you run?

I’d love to run a long race (marathon or half) somewhere in the rural Appalachians. Central Pennsylvania actually hosts a small marathon called the ‘Gods Country’ Marathon, it follows a largely unpopulated route up and over some mountains and has always been on my to-do list.

Finish this sentence: I run because ______.

I love the challenge. The challenge makes you work. It makes you stronger... tougher… more experienced. It makes you better. 

Who would you say inspires you the most?

My inspiration has changed greatly over my running career. From my parents and family when I was young, to coaches and teammates during my competitive years, to now where I would that I am most inspired by the athletes that I coach. Watching college runners grow, develop, mature, get better over a 3 or 4 year period is an extremely inspirational thing to be a part of.

Long or short distance, and why?

Medium. I loved the 5k as a track athlete and the 8k as an XC runner. Those races certainly aren’t short, but nowhere near long. My successful days at anything less than that have all but diminished, but I do still have some aspirations for some true long distance training.

As a coach, what is the best thing that your athletes can do for both themselves or their team?

Take what you do seriously. Give thought to why you run and how you can become better at it. Reflect on where you’ve been and have goals for where you want to go. Once you’ve done these things for yourself, you can apply the same to your team. Take your team serious, become an active part of it and help plan where you want it to go. It sounds contradictory but the more serious you are about being an athlete the more fun you will being one. Res severa verum gaudia.