Hey Rocky, welcome to our portraits series. How are you ? Are you writing back from your home or office ?
Hi! things are good and i’m writing to you from my apartment that doubles as my office.
How does it feel to stay home and not move and fly around anymore ? (this interview was written during covid-19 quarantine period)
Honestly, it’s been good and i’ve tried to make the most of it by developing a routine — which was hard to do when i was constantly on the move. i tried to force myself early on during the lockdown to create a new routine and stick to it.
As you're travelling quite often, is it how you started getting more into running, the best way to fight the jetlag and acclimatize after a check-in ?
To a certain extent, yes, but i actually fell into running a few years ago with the “Nike Go LA 10k" in los angeles, when they closed down the freeway. shortly after finishing the race i signed up for the miami half marathon. I was still traveling quite a bit — primarily to new york, tokyo, london and paris -- and while training for the marathon during my travels, i discovered a whole new side to these cities that i had never seen before and i would get better acclimated to each through running. but yes, i think the best way to try and beat jet lag is to go for a run when you land from a long flight.
Could you explain what you're doing over at Beats and maybe told us a bit more about your background ?
Sure, i work on the global marketing organization at beats by dr. dre. i’ve been at beats for three plus years now and prior to this i was at nike for almost a decade.
We ran with Eugene,Dao and Ryo from OMRC back in New York, I know you're pretty much like a family, do you guys have new challenges together coming up later this year?
It’s been tough as we are all in different places right now, but i’ve been checking in with my OMRC family. i’m sure we’ll figure something out when we’re all in the same city and able to run together again.
LAM marathon 2021?
i wanted my first marathon to be new york, but i’m not sure if that’s happening this year. it might just have to be LA in 2021 :)
The LA weather makes it pretty convenient for some runs all year long, but I find it quite hard to get a cool and easy running route if you're staying in West Hollywood or Ktown and don't want to jump in the car to go for a run. Where do you usually go for a run in L.A. ?
LA is great because there are so many different pockets to this city, but my favorite places to run are:
santa monica for my long runs: start at ocean towers and run south till marina del rey or so. this is 10-12 miles round trip
the silver lake reservoir: another favorite of mine as it’s 2.25 miles around the reservoir, so 3 laps if you want to do 10k. you will also see the famous richard neutra vdl house along with some other amazing houses on this run.
beverly hills: probably my favorite place to run just because it’s the closest to me and most of my friends. you can drive and park on a weeknight or weekend and make the run as long or as short as you want it to be.
It's a long debate, at least for beginners, running with or without music in your opinion. Put your work aside and be honest!
haha! i’ve always preferred to run to music, but i know some purists who say running without music is the way to go. no judgement either way, i personally prefer music though.
(Check the 30 minute run playlist made by Rocky Xu for DISTANCE here)
What running shoes are you using ? Sorry it's a mandatory question.
I’ve been running in the original nike NEXT%’s and recently started to break in the BRS NEXT%. i’m patiently waiting for nike to release the air zoom alphafly NEXT%’s
I know you're travelling like a maniac...where did you enjoy running the most ?
My favorite city to run might be paris. i feel like you can always get lost going down a street you’ve never run down before and running along the bank when it’s nice out is just amazing.
If you could choose any of your heroes to join you for an hour-long run who would you pick? Except Michael Jordan, he's busy running with me.
This is a tough question but i would love to run with eliud kipchog. what he’s been able to accomplish is nothing short of phenomenal and i would be forever grateful to be able to learn from the best.
Thanks for answering all the silly questions Rocky! One last thing, who would you recommend to be next in this portraits of runners series ?
I would recommend SOSUPERSAM, phil toronto and abdul “quddus” fouzi.