A Brief Chat With Derek Rubis

Derek Rubis from Waukesha, Wisconsin is arguably cross country and track’s biggest fan. Most well known for his face in the hole renditions of elite runners and those associated with them, this “Rubisizing” has become a sign of success in the sport. Note: The first person “Rubisized” was Ryan Fenton of Flotrack. Derek has shown an uncanny ability to develop relationships via social networking and due to his active involvement on Twitter and Facebook he can now call many elite level runners friends he may have otherwise never have come to know. His genuine love for the sport is evident in his passionate following of results and the sheer amount of time he devotes to running and volunteer coaching at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Derek and I have been communicating since this past summer via these social networking sites and I was curious how “The Hub of Distance Running” himself would go about building the sport’s following. Derek and I exchanged a few messages via Facebook and here is a brief synopsis about his background and his ideas.

Derek has been running since his 6^th grade year of school, totaling 18 years. Although his first race did not go as well as he would have hoped, the roots for his love of distance running had been planted. He described an early draw as the fact that not many people can run distance and the enjoyment he felt and still feels from long runs. In high school cross country Derek raced against the former Olympian and Stanford graduate Gabe Jennings. He continued his running at Carroll University and does so today by competing for the Greater Milwaukee Track Club. He currently runs 75-80 miles per week and says he hopes to find work as a collegiate assistant coach in the near future. Derek is actively in attendance at many major and local competitions and describes Landon Peacock’s late charge past Andy Bayer in the 2010 Big Ten Cross Country as the most exciting race he’s seen. Derek was also at the 2011 NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships where he was able to cheer on many of his favorite athletes including Diego Estrada of NAU, Colby Lowe and Tom Farrell of Oklahoma State, Chris Derrick of Stanford, and the members of his favorite team hailing from the University of Wisconsin. At the national meet Derek was even featured on both Flotrack and Runnerspace as one of running’s biggest fans. Derek is currently the focal point of a Facebook group, “Let's Send Derek Rubis to the Olympic Trials” in which members of the running community are raising money to, you guessed it, send Rubis to Eugene. Derek said he hopes attend the trials as he’s never been and would like to support his favorite pro athletes in Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp, Billy Nelson, and star decathlete Trey Hardee. Derek describes these athletes as an inspiration to get out the door and pursue becoming a better athlete and a better person. The total raised as of this writing is at $930.

I asked Derek about his views on building the sport’s following and how both current fans and elite athletes could contribute. Derek suggested that promoting is everyone’s responsibility. This falls on both athletes and fans alike as Derek is quoted as saying, “Promote Like Hell.” If this approach is taken and everyone involved begins simply spreading the word about local and national events and increase in exposure is likely to increase fan base. Derek suggests that promotion go beyond simply telling people about the events and meet coordinators going to extra mile to increase media coverage by contacting local news agencies. Fans could push this too by contacting themselves and asking for more involved or better coverage of running related events. Derek suggested that for elite athletes to help more need to take a strong stance as Nick Symmonds has done by aggressively pursuing changes in USATF policy and speaking out to build for the future. Note: Check out Nick’s Facebook Group, ““I’m tired of USATF and IAAF cripping our sport.” As for televised events, Derek stressed that partial coverage of a race does not do it justice and that showing more, highly competitive races may bolster casual interest from the community. I would agree, building the drama of a race is a great way to capture interest and suck people in. What is better than two hometown heroes competing head to head for a championship? Things people can relate to like location and upbringing can help people relate to distance running and increase their interest. That is what I see as the major problem, for many people this running thing is too foreign and hard to relate to. By increasing exposure through increased promotion as Derek suggested this may make running more relatable to the average American. This a good starting point, I am interested to see how things unfold in the future. I will be doing my best to promote like hell, will you?

A big thanks to Derek Rubis for his time and sharing of personal information. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @drubisunirun and check out the Facebook groups mentioned above.