How about the rest of our Olympic marathon team, Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell?
JC: I couldn’t ask for three better guys representing the U.S. Ryan Hall’s a great guy. Dathan is in my training group, and we’re both coached by the same guy. And Brian Sell is a guy I’ve known for a long time, since we were ran against each other in college. We’re pretty good friends. We’re both Pennsylvania guys. We both sucked in high school [laughs], but now we’re both enjoying the fruits of our labor. Brian’s kind of like me, a blue-collar guy who gives hope to a lot of other guys from the smaller schools. I’m kind of the track version of Brian Sell. NYRR: Do you still see yourself as an underdog when you’re competing? JC: I’m starting to not see myself as an underdog. But I think everybody else still does. I still don’t get much respect, but that’s fine. That fuels my fire. In my mind, I know I can mix it up with anybody at this point. I’m not going to back down from anybody at this point. It’s almost an advantage for me that people don’t necessarily respect my athletic ability.
