Q&A: Olympian close to Catlin Gabel makes a mark

Craig Engels (far right) wins the 2019 U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Photo courtesy of Phil Roeder via Flickr CC.

Craig Engels is a rock star. Not the kind that plays the electric guitar and has records go platinum, but the athletic variety. When he arrives at a track meet, crowds gather, often wearing t-shirts bearing his visage or, occasionally, sporting a fake mullet, one of Engels’ characteristic hair looks. In a sport lacking the media attention of its counterparts, Engels has emerged as an ambassador for everything that makes running special.

He’s one of track and field’s most popular athletes and when he’s not traveling the world competing against Olympic-caliber athletes, he lives steps from the Catlin Gabel School (CGS) Campus, out past the athletic fields. Engels can be found jogging along the lower soccer field, often with other Olympic and world champions at his side.

Last year, Engels was the USA champion both indoors and outdoors in the 1500 meters and he starts the 2020 season as a favorite to make the Olympic team, which would fulfill a lifelong dream.

I sat down with Engels to learn about his preparation for the Olympics, how he defines his public persona, what keeps him going in a sport that breeds individual competition, and his tips for those looking to find their own slice of sporting dominion.

Photo courtesy of Filip Bossuyt via Wikimedia Commons.

It’s an Olympic year with the Tokyo Games just a few months away. What are your goals for this year?

Yeah, it's a big year for sure. Everyone trained four years for this and a lot of people retire afterwards. There’s a really crazy pressure where you have to perform well and make the Olympics and you want to be able to call yourself an Olympian for the rest of your life.

So, right now, I’m just training super hard in order to make the Olympics. My goal at the Olympics is to make the final and then from there, anything is possible, but I would love to medal. I know how hard it is and how much work it's to take, but I'll spend the next few months preparing for that.

In a year like the Olympics, with intense physical and mental expectations, how do you find balance and positivity outside of training?

I think the biggest thing to do is to not make one thing your whole life and that probably extends past running or even sports. Personally, I like to keep a balance between my social life and my training.

If, say, running is your whole life and you get injured, then you're going to be in a terrible mental state and it's hard to get back from that injury. But if you keep other things around, other hobbies and traveling and friends and everything, then when something goes wrong, you just take your time off of running or whatever other sport you’re involved in, and you enjoy all of the other things.

As a professional athlete, do you still deal with stress and do you have a routine before races to deal with this?

Craig Engels strides out during a training session. Photo courtesy of Eric Jenkins.

I actually don't have a routine whatsoever. And I think that's part of the reason why I've had so much success. When you're traveling a bunch, there are all sorts of delays and changes that you have to deal with. If you have a routine and it gets messed up because of that travel and whatever, then you can get mentally frustrated.

So, I actually hate routines. I mean, maybe I eat like three to five hours before [a race], but that’s about it. I do, however, love to listen to Lynard Skinner before my race. I love to play a song called “Simple Man.” Just to remind myself that there's more out there than this one race.

Growing up, did you have any idea you wanted to be a professional runner? What inspired you to get more involved with the sport?

Not at all. I didn't even know professional running was a thing until I was like 20 years old. But, growing up, I always wanted to be a professional athlete which is funny. I wanted to play soccer or be a wakeboarder or do some crazy sport like that.

I never thought it would be running, but thanks to my high school coach and a few crazy dominoes [falling into place], I'm here living in Portland, Oregon training at the Nike headquarters and running professionally for my country.

Was there a moment when things clicked for you and you realized this could be a real career?

My running journey has been pretty strange and I really just happened upon it. Back in high school, I got kicked off my soccer team and the next thing I wanted to do was running. My parents couldn’t know why I was coming home early, so I went to track practice instead and then, I just kept going into these new realms where I, for example, could maybe go to college for free and then maybe get paid.

Craig Engels with teammate and world champion, Donovan Brazier. Photo courtesy of Eric Jenkins.

But it was really in college where I realized maybe I could be a professional athlete. I made it to the Olympic trials and ended up getting fourth, which was tragic but got me talking to all sorts of agents and others in the running world.

You have more than 50 thousand followers on instagram and a wide following amongst young fans. How do you define your own “brand” within the sport?

I guess I've formed a brand theoretically, but I’ve just been myself. I’ve just done whatever I want to do and I post that on social media, which is this crazy tool to reach the youth and other people aspiring to be a runner. And it just seems that I have fun with the sport while still running well and a lot of people enjoy that. So that's what I'm doing and that's what I'm going to continue to do.

Audience engagement is a big part of this. The only [opinions] I care about are those of the youth and the kids who are aspiring to be runners. I don't care about the other runners or adults that are judging. I just care about giving the kids a path in their life to potentially do something cool.

Another thing that differentiates you from your peers is your love and extensive use of the RV. What’s the story behind this obsession?

I got really nervous about moving to Portland (with all of the rain) and how that would affect my moods and everything. So I just went ahead and bought an RV. I had been wanting one for years and I actually bought one when I was 18, but it was the worst RV ever. It had mold in it and I had to let it go. But this time I had a little bit of disposable income and I was in a place where I could buy one, so I bought an RV. Every weekend, I take trips with my friends, and it just makes me so happy to be able to do whatever I want.

I hear that you're interested in potentially working with renewable energy in the future. Could you talk a little bit about that?

So, I studied renewable energy for two and a half years at my university. It's this obsession with self-sustainability and efficiency. Renewable energy is so cool because you could live off the grid, completely on your own and just create your own energy. I just love that.

I'm finishing my master's degree in business right now and when I'm done with running, I’d love to combine economics and renewable energy because a lot of people don't really see the economic benefit of it. They just think [renewable energy] is this thing for hippies or whatever. So I'd love to be able to combine the two areas and make it well-known that renewable energy is super economical as well.

Craig Engels jogs across the track at Nike’s World Headquarters in Beaverton. Photo courtesy of Eric Jenkins.

Now that you are a professional athlete, what do you enjoy most about what you do?

I think it's the freedom. With running it's such a convenient sport where I could travel as much as I want and still get my run in. Obviously, a lot of times I have to be a lot more dedicated and focused than someone just traveling [for leisure], but I have the freedom to go on these road trips and meet new people and do all these things while still running. And it's just such a cool sport in that way.

Do you think there are any misconceptions about the life of a professional athlete?

I feel like people think that all we do is train. People think that you [as an athlete] spend eight to 10 hours a day training, and it's kind of true where recovery, for example, is part of our training and that's part of our overall work as an athlete. But outside of practicing maybe three or four hours a day, you really have so much free time.

Do you have any tips for aspiring athletes?

I guess my biggest word of advice is that you have fun and enjoy it. If you're in it for the money, if you're in it for the fame, that’s not what life is about. You're supposed to enjoy it and hopefully inspire other people to enjoy it along the way.

What’s your proudest achievement as a runner?

Individually, I think winning the U.S. outdoor championships last year. But my best general running memory is winning the DMR — which is a relay title — in college with my team. It's just so much cooler when we share experiences and it's not part of the job and you're not getting paid to do it. The only thing you care about is winning [as a team], you know.

What do you want your legacy to be when you retire?

No. So when I was 19 years old, I made a USA junior team. And I remember having a conversation with my mom where we were both like, “This is crazy. I can’t believe we made it this far. If I never get better from here, then that's awesome. I've done so much more than I've ever dreamed up.” And I remember having that conversation and then from then on, every single thing I did was just a bonus. I never put pressure on it, and more and more just kept happening. It's pretty crazy. It's really cool just to see what happens when you don't put too much pressure on yourself.

Learn more about Engels and track his journey by joining his 55k+ followers on Instagram: @craigathor.