Team Colorado Welcomes Zach "Banana Boy" Miller

Name: Zach "Banana Boy" Miller

Age: 26

Hometown: Kenyan Born, Lancaster, PA Raised, and Colorado Trained {basically a Kenyan-PA-CO hybrid! They warned us about those.}

Current residence: Manitou Springs, CO (Soon to be Barr Camp, Pikes Peak, CO) 

Zach eating an obscene about of banana,
it's a comon occurrence.  photo: Chef  l'équipe

Sponsors: NIKE, Chiquita Bananas (well, it should be)

Personal Bests: 
- 5k (track): 15:32.06
- 10k (track): 31:23.80- Half Marathon (road): 1:10:51.52
- Winning the 2013 JFK 50 Mile with the 3rd fastest time in race history (5:38:53).
- Winning and setting the now former course record at the 2014 Lake Sonoma 50

Personal Worsts:
- Running off the front at the 2014 Les Templiers Ultra, bonking hard with about 5k left, and crawling my way in for a 5th place finish.

But man did he look good doing it! Team Colorado teammates Alex "Axel" Nichols and Sage "The Rage" Canaday, along with Zach, take the team gold at Les Templiers Ultra.         photo: Matthieu Byrdziak

Notable Achievements:
- Member of the 2014 USA Mountain Running Team
- Member of the 2014 USA Long Distance Mountain Running Team--Gold Medal- Member of the 2014 USA 100k Road Ultra Team
- Top 10 Finisher (9th) at the 2014 100k Road World Championships
- Helped Team USA to win gold at the 2014 100k Road World Championships
- Auto Qualifier for 2015 team USA Ultra Trail Team
- Auto Qualifier for the 2015 team USA 100k Road Ultra Team- 2014 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile Champion
- 2013 JFK 50 Mile Champion

Unicorn (Bat) Man/Luigi    photo: The Stank

Goals for 2015 and beyond: Do my best. Lay it all out there. Run with heart. Be nice to aid station workers.

Favorite trails: Cameron Cone, Section 16, Conestoga Trail (in PA).

Favorite workout: Incline Stuff (Repeats, 3/1's, and 1 rep done all out). I also like long up/down tempos on rampart range road and intervals on the "dirt track" in Garden of the Gods.

Favorite races: Conestoga Trail Run

Favorite beer: Does Root Beer Count? {Why yes, yes it does! What brand would that be?}

Website/Blog: whereeastturnswest.blogspot.com

Why Trail/Mountain/Ultra Running?: It's fun! I love mountains, trails, and running up.

Additional stuff you want to add {anything about your affinity for bananas?}: 

"Lego my legos" says Zach!

Life isn't about doing everything perfectly. It's about taking chances, trying new things, and enjoying the adventure of it all. To use the words of Theodore Roosevelt, it's about "…the man who is actually in the arena…":

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."      -Roosevelt

{OK, maybe we will discuss bananas next time, you can take a nap now!}

Caught napping on the job        Photo: Brandon Stankanowich