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Dan Strackeljahn pushed himself to almost breaking the school record in the mile.

Strackeljahn, when off the track, sat down with Online Interactive Editor Kevin Kenealy on Monday and discussed his marketable abilities for computer technical communication.

Strackeljahn shared his knowledge of drafting, graphic design and Web design, along with his plans for running a marathon someday and what he talks about during his longer races.

Q: What is like to almost break the school record?

A: I had a rabbit for the first half of the race, and I would have ended up going through on pace to break the school record and then the rabbit dropped out after 800 meters of the race and so I still had the second half of the race to go.

It’s pretty tough whenever you’re out there trying to run fast on your own and whenever I crossed the line, I knew it was going to be close and I couldn’t be mad at my time because I ran a personal record.

But it’s tough because especially when you’re right there. I mean it was my senior year and it was kind of my chance to get that record but I’m in good shape and with that time, I definitely have a shot at the 1500-meter record.

Q: What’s the mental aspect of running?

A: This is from running day in and day out and especially on some of the longer runs, but whenever you’re with a group of people sometimes you just start talking about whatever pops into your mind.

We have a good group of guys and sometimes it’s just talking about whatever, what you’re having for dinner that night, the good-looking girl in class, just talking about whatever.

Whenever you’re running by yourself, you just think about stuff. If you had something that’s kind of bothering you usually, you just kind of think about that or sometimes you just run around and look at things.

Q: Has there ever been a time that you may not have had such a good day and you kind of take that with you when you’re running?

A: You always have days like that. Something’s bothering you and you try not to take it to practice, but sometimes it does. And one of the things is I procrastinate a lot, especially on papers. And a lot of times, when I’m running, I think about a lot of things I’ll put on there and sometimes it helps with your schoolwork and sometimes it doesn’t.

Q: What is your distance coach Geoff Masanet like?

A: He’s a really knowledgeable coach. He knows times; he knows workouts. And he’s just a really good support system. If you have a problem, he’s really good to talk to and just giving you workouts to do, he’s really good at that.

Q: Who on the track team assists you the most?

A: It would definitely be the coaching staff. The two main ones that I deal with are Coach Akers and Coach Masanet and they both really focus on the team aspect of it.

I think that’s one thing that Eastern really has is from the sprints to the jumps, everyone’s really supportive of everyone else.

Just running around the track at practice, people yell at each other, you know, it really helps people out and it really helps people achieve.

Q: What was it like to be selected to the Academic All-District V team?

A: It’s definitely a nice honor to have. It’s nice because I know I’m not the best in the classroom but I think it’s good because I go to class every day and I put in the hard work in the classroom so I think it’s a nice achievement to have.

Q: What was it like to design for the Daily Eastern News?

A: In my earlier years at Eastern, I know sometimes you’d pick up the paper and notice that somebody’s name was spelled wrong, which is expected with people learning as they’re doing it here. So it was nice to get an insight on that. I know some of the designs I did I messed up on. But I think now I’m a little more relaxed whenever I see the paper and not as judgmental.

Q: What is it like to major in computer technical communication?

A: It’s pretty broad actually. It’s industrial technology education and it can go anywhere from construction, welding, woodshops, up to drafting, graphic design, your Web design and stuff. So a lot of your high schools are getting out of your traditional welding and are going more to the technology part of it.

Q: What do you look to do with it?

A: I’m actually a little bit better with the computer end of it.

I could have graduated after student teaching last fall so I tried to pick up some classes where I could learn of the traditional things of it so I’m learning how to weld and I’m taking a construction class this semester.

I’m just trying to make myself a little bit more marketable out there so if there’s a high school out there that still has that welding class or that construction class, I could teach that.

Q: Chris Wesson said the 800-meter guys are the best in track and field. What do you have to say to that?

A: Laughs I mean they’re definitely pretty good. And within a team, it’s good to have the competitiveness between the groups. I don’t know; it’s kind of funny. I know definitely probably a lot of them could beat a lot of our long distance guys in the 800, but I think if they tried to run a 5k or a 10k on the track, we could definitely take them.

Q: What’s the longest run you’ve done yourself?

A: The longest run I’ve done myself is 14 miles. Yeah, there’s some guys on the team where that’s their normal run. Some of them just this past Sunday, they went for a 14/15-mile run. I usually don’t go that far.

Q: What kind of training goes into a 14-mile run?

A: Well that kind of run starts months previous to where you build your miles up to where you run 30 miles one week, 35 the next week to where you build it up and get to some of the higher mileage weeks to the 80/90 miles.

Just progressively, you’ll get to those longer runs. From what I hear, I’ve never done any of those 20-mile runs, but after about an hour and a half, it really starts to suck. So a lot of them will start to bring out goo packets just to get that little extra energy in.

Q: Do you ever question ‘how much farther’?

A: There’s sometimes if it’s like winter and it’s fifteen degrees and the wind’s blowing and it’s like ‘man, I really want to get out of here.’ There’s kind of the dedication where if you give up now, then you’re not doing the best you can do.

Q: Do you have any pre-game warm-ups?

A: I try to warmup, like, 50 minutes before I race. I wear the same shorts, the same pants, the same shirt on race day. I definitely wash it; I’m not one of those people that don’t wash or anything but I just try to stay in a routine and stretch the same way and stuff.

Q: Is there a weight limit in track?

A: It’s not required, but I know people have their race weight and that’s potentially what they want to weigh. I mean, me I weight 150/148 on some days. If you’re eating healthy, running out every day, you’re going to stay pretty fit.

Q: Do you have any hobbies outside of running?

A: Yeah, I try to do a lot of stuff outdoors. Around here, I try to do some fishing, sometimes go out to Fox Ridge and walk around a little bit. I’m not really good at it, but I try to do some golf.

Q: Do you have any idols?

A: My parents are two people that I look up to. My mom is really motivated and strives to do a lot of good things. My dad is just a good all around guy, really supportive. We talk once a week, how my training’s going. They both try to go to as many meets as they can and it’s pretty nice when you’re 23 years old and you still see your parents coming out to your meets.

Q: Do you plan to run a marathon?

A: Yeah, I definitely want to do a marathon at some point in my life. After college, I’d like to stick to some of the shorter stuff, stick to the mile, 3K indoors and 5K outdoors and that kind of stuff. I know one of my running goals is that I want to break four minutes in the mile and I’m pretty close and if I don’t do it this year, maybe I can get on it and keep training and do it next year.