Riley Masters On Recalibrating His Olympic Dreams, Prioritizing Performance and Revisiting 'The Real Maine'

“When you look at running and why we’re doing this, the ultimate pinnacle goal is to be an elite medalist but really to be an Olympian and have that title. For Sara (my wife) and I, when we think about why we do this, it’s to try and qualify for the Olympics or give it our absolute best shot. When you talk to someone who is not closely tied to the running world, that’s what they’re looking for. When they describe you to your friends, they’re thinking, ‘This guy is training for the Olympics’ or ‘He’s trying to make the Olympics’ and it’s so cool to them but if you take the Olympics out of it, it loses the allure of what we’re doing. It’s very unique.”

Consider this Part II to last week’s conversation with Sara Sutherland since we now get to interview her husband, Riley Masters. For those who may not be familiar with him, Riley was a standout runner at Maine before transferring to Oklahoma. He’s got personal bests of 3:36.49 for the 1,500 meters and 13:16.97 for the 5,000 meters. He serves as an assistant coach at Colorado where he works closely with his own coach Mark Wetmore. 

Riley hasn’t raced in 2020 because he’s making his way back from getting surgery to correct Haglund's deformity, which is a bone growth on the heel bone. 

I’ve known Riley for years and as he’s now in his 7th year of running professionally, we were both together in Europe in 2013 for our rookie seasons at the top end of the sport. We catch up on what he’s learned in that span of time, why this year is the worst one that he’s faced but keeps him motivated to explore what’s possible in 2021. 

For all my OG Real Maine fans – the documentary that brought some hype behind guys like Riley and Kyle Merber – we touch on the lasting legacy of that film.  Plus: An epic tale of a Jeep Cherokee being stolen and totaled in a drug-related bust...Riley’s Mt. Rushmore of runners from Maine and much more.

Follow Riley on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/riley_masters/

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