Today we chat with Acalanes 800m. runner, Adler Faulkner.  This past track and field season, Adler finished 2nd at the California state track and field meet in the 800m. with a lifetime best time of 1:51.30.  He was also North Coast Section 800m. champion with a then lifetime best time of 1:53.92.  Adler has been one of the top runners in NCS since his freshman season when he dipped under the 2:00 barrier in the 800m.  He was also one of the top cross country runners at Acalanes running on the varsity team all four years (picture to the left is from Adler's sophomore XC season at the 2010 Ed Sias Invitational courtesy of sportsimagewire.com).

1)  How did you get your start in running?  What other sports have you played besides cross country and track and field?
So when I was young, I pretty much did at least a year or two in a lot of different sports: lacrosse, soccer, baseball, basketball, roller hockey, and ice hockey. But as I got older they weeded out until in middle school I was only playing ice hockey. It was something my dad had done, being Scandinavian, and was a sport I came to love. In middle school I ran track pretty trivially, although I always was one of the, if not the, fastest kids in the middle school leagues in both track and cross country. In fact in 8th grade was the first time I ran XC and won almost all of the middle school races. The summer after eighth grade, just before freshman year of high school, I ran club track for Diablo Valley and that's when track really became my #1 sport over ice hockey as I competed in the Junior Olympics and placed 4th in the 800m as a youth boy, running 2:04. I still played hockey freshman year of high school and in fact my team and I won the state championship that year. I actually missed out on a 4X800 relay at the Arcadia Invitational because I was playing in the state ice hockey championship. I stopped playing hockey after that season and have been getting more serious into running ever since.

2)  What do you remember about your freshmen experience in both sports?  Highlights?
Freshman year was a great year for me. It was quite a memorable year as I got to follow behind a couple seniors and long time running families at Acalanes who took me under their wing and showed me how fun the sports could be. The largest reason for my quick admittance into the Acalanes track family was my season during the summer being coached by a former Acalanes runner, Harlan Lopez. That season showed the coaches and upper class-men that i'd be a vital part of the team in XC and track that coming year as a freshman. It was thus almost expected that I break 2:00 as a freshman in the 800m, which was quite a thrill and a huge step in becoming a true middle distance runner.

3)  What about your sophomore seasons?  Highlights?
Sophomore year was definitely my highlight year in cross country. Although I ran 1:56, a respectable time in the 800, I had more momentous successes in XC. Along with my teammate, Tyler Troxel, I qualified individually from NCS to State, running the fastest paces I ever have in a 5k. Tyler (who is a year older than me and runs for Chico St.) and I ran many races right next to each other, pacing and pushing each other, which I think contributed greatly to our success that season.

4)  Going into your junior season in cross country, did you do anything different over the summer in terms of training?  Highlights from your junior cross country season?  
Junior year I had a bit of an odd XC season. My mother passed away from cancer the summer before Junior year started and I was sort of unfocused mentally for that XC season, delivering pretty terrible races compared to Sophomore year. However I turned it around during track that year running 1:54.39 at the Sacramento MOC, which was just .01sec off of my school record. I think I peaked a bit too early that season and wasn't able to get past NCS MOC or run any faster that year.

5)  You weren't able to compete at the...