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Chris Derrick

@cderrickrun

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No outstanding warrants for my arrest.
Formerly @stanfordxctf and @bowermantc.

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Hi everyone, it’s been a while. This is our son, Isaac Sanchez Derrick. Isaac was born in late February and arrived much earlier than he was supposed to. After a long hospital stay, we were able to bring him home in early July. Sara and I are so proud of this tough little nugget and so thankful that we get to watch him grow each day. We are eternally grateful to the many friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors who helped us maintain our last vestiges sanity while Isaac was in the hospital by visiting with us, organizing meals, and taking care of our house. Maybe there are words that can express the depth of our gratitude, but I’m too sleep deprived to think of them.
Thank you. by @cderrickrun

As you may have seen on the internet last week, I retired from professional running last fall. You can read my interview on Letsrun if you’d like to know more about the when and how of that. The one thing I wanted to say here – that I should have said more often– is how incredibly grateful I am for all of the teammates, coaches, and friends I’ve gotten to know through my nearly two decades in running. From Neuqua Valley, to Stanford, to BTC I have had the honor of running with and being coached by some truly incredible people. People who inspired me to be a better athlete and person not through rousing speeches or showy symbolic gestures, but through the way they carried themselves day to day.

To be entirely too honest, when I started running before my freshman year of high school I was a pretty lonely kid. I didn’t dare dream that I would ever find a place where I felt as at home as I have in the running community. Everywhere I’ve lived and trained I’ve made friendships that will last me for the rest of my life and that’s a pretty rare and special thing. Even in our brief time in Boulder, Sara and I have been blown away by the number of runners who’ve welcomed us into their lives. Looking back on my career, there are many things I could have asked of myself as an athlete, but there is nothing more that I could ask for from the people I’ve come to know and love in this sport. I want to thank you all so very, very much. It’s been an honor and pleasure.

I also want to thank my family - especially my parents, my brother Mark, and Sara - who put up for years with the selfish lifestyle of a professional runner: long altitude camps, missed holidays, generally being tired and boring, etc. Their love and support only grew the more I struggled in running. I love you guys. by @cderrickrun

It’s generally customary to share engagement pictures before you get married, but I heard it was illegal to post pictures this cute if it’s not Valentine’s Day.
#DangerouslyCheesy

📸: @lighttrail_ph by @cderrickrun

Never thought I’d be an “our wedding was the best day of my life” guy, but Sara and all our wonderful friends and family are turning me into some kind of sap! The night before my Mom hit us with the “no man is poor who has friends” George Bailey special and I’ve been feeling like the richest man in town ever since.
#FelizNaviDerrick

📸: (the incomparable) @cortneywhite_ by @cderrickrun

Pretty tough experience out there Sunday. Going into the race I knew that my fitness was probably just ok. I was hoping smart racing and patience on a hot and windy day would make up for whatever I was missing on form. The plan was to go conservative through halfway and focus on getting down lots of fluids so I could move up the second half. Unfortunately, neither the fluids nor my own mind settled into this plan super comfortably. I got a little antsy just passed halfway and pushed maybe a little too hard. 20-23 miles was rough but I was hoping to salvage a couple spots with a big push with the wind at my back the last three miles. Unfortunately as I wound that up my hamstring cramped into a tight, angry ball of fury and I had to stop for ~90 seconds. I probably would have stopped for good if @elliottheathbar hadn’t been right there to talk me through it. The last two and half miles after I got going again were a pretty weird experience with my body feeling like it was on the edge of total rebellion if I tried to push. I ended up running 2:18 (😬😬) and finishing 15th.

In more successful news, @sasanch.20 was one of like 3 people to even split the race and absolutely crushed a 2:53 massive PR!

So that’s what happened. There’s been a lot of changes in my life the last 6 months and I’m sure we’ll talk about those here at some point. One thing that has not changed is that I feel incredibly supported and encouraged by the people around me. I’m supposed to be a words guy, but I find it impossible to express the deep gratitude and chest-filling warmth that I feel when I think about all the kind and generous things people have said to me or done for me throughout this build up and my career. There is, and will probably always be, a part of me that feels ashamed to take in all that friendship and love and then deliver a performance like Sunday. But I’m getting better at quieting that voice and appreciating the community around me on its own, beautiful terms.
Thank you all ❤️

📸: @cortneywhite_ | @stephenkersh @rabbitwolfcreative by @cderrickrun

Sara and I are running the Chicago Marathon tomorrow and would appreciate any spare positive vibes you might be able to send our way!

#ShareTheDestinations by @cderrickrun

Extremely fun time at Erin and Jacob’s wedding this past weekend!
#BonusContent
#WeddingSZN by @cderrickrun

Got 10th at Cherry Blossom in 47:42. After my track season I took a month off, which was my longest voluntary time away from running maybe ever. When I started back up I told myself it would be good to feel like I was barely getting into shape the last couple weeks before Chicago. I’m trying to keep that context in mind, but I am prideful and impatient.

I had a great deal of fun on my trip. My brother, @dark_merrick lives in DC and I always enjoy getting a chance to visit him, take the metro to cool places, and pretend I’m young and hip. There was also a high density of running friends and runners I would like to be my friends in attendance and that was very pleasant.

Slightly less than 4 weeks until the @chimarathon which will likely be when I next post.
#ShareTheDestinations by @cderrickrun

I’ll be running the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in DC tomorrow morning. Also, while we’re here, you should know I’m running the Chicago Marathon next month.

P.S. I’m pretty sure I dropped Olympic Trials champ William Alfred Wiles Kincaid in this session and I would like you to know that as well.
#sharethedestinations
⚡️⚡️⚡️

📸: @cortneywhite_ by @cderrickrun

How can I show you the truth?

How can I make you feel the respect that I have for Shelby, the purest competitor I’ve ever known? Someone who wouldn’t even wear the Dragonfly’s because she didn’t want an unfair advantage? How can I make you feel the pure visceral joy she exudes when she’s finding her own limits?

How can I make you hear the hours and hours I’ve heard Jerry rail against cheating? How can I make you understand how stubbornly, deeply embedded his sense of fairness is? That to him, winning by cheating isn’t just wrong, it’s inexplicable? That the very idea short circuits him?

How can I show you the hours, days, and years spent training, living, and competing with some of the most talented and driven people on the planet? How can I prove to you their love and commitment to the sport and to doing it the right way?

I want to spool out my memories for you and let you live inside them. I want to show you what happened so I can prove what didn’t.

But that’s the stuff of fantasy novels. All I have are words. And you’ve heard words before. Maybe these same words. From liars and cheats and self-justifiers. I’ve heard them too. I’ve sat where you are sitting now and tried to parse the honest defense from the artful lie. The track fan’s cynicism is hard-won. I’d like to think that the way BTC and its members have conducted themselves over the years has earned us the respect of our peers, the benefit of the doubt. But I know that some people will eagerly take this news as proof that the world is just as low and mean as they’d always known/hoped. Others will mostly believe, but there will be some part of them that says, “well…”. I can understand their equivocation. It’s logical. I’ve done it. And l hate it all the same.

I hate that Shelby’s career and reputation will come down not to the faultless way she has conducted herself in this sport, but to how well her case can be argued. To what can be proved to a suspicious system and public. To the right turn of phrase or clever invocation of statute. To PR. I don’t want you to hear arguments. I want you to know, as I know, that Shelby is innocent. I want you to hear the truth. I just wish I knew how. by @cderrickrun

Filming some videos for the BTC online Summer Training program. Had a great time doing this last year and excited to give it another go! Two days left to sign up and I’ve got one free slot to give away. If you’re a high schooler looking to join us, let me know where you go to school and what your goals are for this year and I’ll pick one lucky winner. Comments and DMs are open. Send them in by tonight. by @cderrickrun

Came up short of the Olympic Trials standard last night. The pacing and conditions were spot on, I was in a great position the whole race, and was there with 1200 to go. I just didn’t have it and faded to 28:09.

As I discussed in a previous post, it’s a bummer as an athlete to not trust your body. To have it feel alien and unreliable when you need it to be automatic and smooth. I’ve made slow but uneven progress on getting back to that feeling, but the process has been a mental drain. There were times when I just wanted to melt away into the background and hope no one would remember that I couldn’t live up to expectations.

What has kept me going has been the unceasing support and belief of my family, teammates, friends, and coaches. Whatever bad luck I’ve encountered with injuries is more than made up by the incredible group of people that I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by. I wanted so badly last night to reward their faith and be the athlete they saw in me but I had trouble seeing in myself. So I could not help but feel that I let them down in those last few laps. And yet, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt in any triumphant moment as supported and loved as I felt after the race last night. They say adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it, and what this particular stretch has revealed to me is the incredible character of our club and all the people I have rooting for me in my life.

I hope, friends, that if you ever have the need for it, you may know that same feeling. I hope, too, that all the people who have been there for me know how much they have meant to me. Thank you.

📸: @cortneywhite_ by @cderrickrun