The Running Life of Riley Hawk The Running Life of Riley Hawk

Riley!

Hey, what’s up!

So, this is the Start Today issue of POSSESSED, and I wanted to chat with you because you’re not known for running, but you got into running fairly recently. Is that right?

Yeah, well, I’d say over the last two years I’ve been trying to be more consistent with it. It’s a little hard; my body is pretty banged up, but I try.

Obviously, your first ‘sport’ would have been skateboarding, right?

Yeah.

Can we touch on that real quick? When did you start skating? I’m guessing immediately after birth.

[laughter]

Ah, probably since I was two-ish... Three maybe?

Wow. 

Yeah, so it’s almost coming up on thirty years now, which is insane. 

But you do a bunch of stuff, right? I’ve seen you on dirt bikes, mountain bikes...

Yeah, I kinda grew up like a classic Southern California kid. You can go to the mountains and snowboard, you can go to the beach and surf, skate, whatever. So, I kinda grew up doing everything, but skate was always the main draw. But as I got older and kind of accomplished some of the things in skating that I wanted to, I was able to sort of step back and do some stuff that was just for fun, versus being a job or something I had expectations of myself with.

So, how did you get started with running?

Well, I tried it over the years because I saw it as a great way to stay in shape and keep the cardio up and everything, but there were points in my life where I was just in too much pain; my ankles were so destroyed—

What’s up with your ankles?

I had, like, four ankle surgeries through my twenties, and the hardest part of that is the flexibility from my toes to my knees is really bad. Like, having my knees go over my toes is nearly non-existent, so that makes running a little tricky; I kinda have to run a little tippy-toed, and that can start to get pretty exhausting pretty quick. But I just learned to work through it, and now I can kinda find my stride and get going if I’m feeling up to it that day.  

You did a triathlon recently?

Yeah, and I really wanna do one of the 70. 3 Ironmans, too. There’s one in Oceanside where I live, and I was always, like, ‘Man, I really wanna do that.’ But I definitely didn’t want to do it cold turkey and have the worst time of my life, so I started looking up some local sprint triathlons, and I’ve been doing them to try and get my body ready for something bigger.

Why are you doing it?

You know, it’s just something to challenge myself and in a realistic way, not like, ‘Oh, I’ve never fuckin’ swam or ran—I’m gonna do an Ironman!’

[laughter]

Right.

I know better than to attempt something like that without training. I know people do, but I like the journey and process of learning and getting better, and then when you go to do it, it’s enjoyable because you’re kinda in an element you’re used to.

I’m really unfamiliar with triathlons. What’s the distance breakdown of the ones you’ve been doing?

The swim was, like, 400 meters, and then a 10-mile bike ride (16K), and then a 5K run. So, it’s pretty small increments, but I feel like it’s the baby-steps of learning how to link them all together and pace yourself so you can see where you can push further and further in each one. That’s what I’ve been trying to do: just get a little quicker in each thing. But I think if you do the long one in Ironman, the swim pace is completely different from those ones.

The sprints.

Yeah. With the sprints, you’re kinda going all out on these shorter distances. 

What kinda times are you getting?

The first one I did, I think it was an hour and eighteen minutes, and the second one was an hour and six minutes, so I definitely shaved some time off, which felt good. That first one I did, though, my transitions were just so terrible. I didn’t know what was going on.

[laughter]

What happened?

I was just standing there and changing like I’d just finished surfing; no form of haste at all, kinda just standing around trying to figure out what I needed. But by the second one—

You developed a sense of urgency.

Yeah. But you gotta realize that you don’t need much in those transitions, you know? Some dudes don’t even put the socks on, just sandy feet right into the bike. But I’m good; I’m definitely not trying to gain that much time.

Do you remember having a moment where you were like, 'Running... Maybe I should run.'

I don’t really know, to be honest. I think I was just seeing more people that were like-minded getting into running, and not just, like, ‘athlete’ types—

You mean you saw more people like you getting into?

Yeah. And I think I saw a lot of fighters, too, like, I follow MMA pretty closely, and a lot of fighters put an emphasis on running... I think it was just a case of me always not liking running, and then I was like, ‘Okay, fuck it. I gotta chase that and get better at it.’ That’s kinda always been my thing: if something is hard and I’m struggling with it, I want to just figure it out, so I guess that’s probably where it came from.

That’s the kind of talk that can and will lead to ultrarunning. 

[laughter]

Fuck. I mean, one day, maybe, but—

Because that’s how it happens, it’s the ‘challenge accepted’ mindset.

I definitely get into something when I get into it, but I’ve learned in the last few years not to get too serious about anything that isn’t skating.

Why?

Just because it’s so hard to commit time to something that you’re new at versus skating, which is something I’ve done my whole life, and it’s my job. So, if I’m going to focus one hundred percent of my energy on something, it should be that.

I actually wanted to ask about that because you’re sort of flirting with an activity that is highly addictive—

For sure.

So, I’m wondering, shit, will Riley Hawk eventually quit skating and become an ultrarunner, and we’ll see him at Western States every year?

I mean, that’d be cool, but I don’t know. It’s one of those things where I’m interested in seeing what I’m capable of doing, and I’m the first guy that if I’m not able to do something, then, yeah, I’ll keep trying... But I’m not going to force something if my body can’t handle it. Although I’m learning as I get older that your body can go through some crazy stuff—as long as you can mentally push through, it’ll hold up.

Max [Jolliffe] told me you were keen to get into trail running?

Yeah! There’s a lot of cool trails in the area. It’s funny, Max popped up either on YouTube or my Instagram in an interview, and he was talking about skating, and he kinda looked like someone I’d kick it with, and then I saw he was doing all these crazy runs, and I was like, ‘Woah, that’s rad.’ You see these people doing things that seem superhuman, but then you see someone who looks relatable doing it and it makes it seem a little more achievable—at a smaller level; obviously, the stuff he does is crazy—but it makes me think, ‘Oh shit, I wanna try and do that!’ And there’s some nice little trails near my house, so...

That’s how it starts, man!

[laughter]

Yeah, well, you’re on your own and... Like, I run by the beach a lot, and it’s kind of silly weaving through people and bikes, and there’s fuckin’ dudes on the bike lane yelling at you because you’re on the bike path because the sidewalk is too crowded—

Yuck.

Yeah, it’s a real scene down there. But then you get on a trail and it’s like, Oh shit, there’s no one out here, and you’re just cruisin’ and doing your own thing.

The other cool thing about trail running is you can’t tune out the way you can with road running. You always have to keep an eye on your surroundings, especially the ground, where there are things to trip on... Which is kinda like skating, I guess? It’s sort of meditative because your mind can’t wander too much, especially on the more technical trails.

Yeah, totally. 

You become the activity in a way. Flow state, Zen, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. You have to tune into every step as opposed to running on the street where you’re just thinking about how far you have to go or whatever. Kinda similar to mountain biking or dirt biking, too. All you’re thinking about is the next foot ahead because if you look too far, you might tweak an ankle or whatever.

What’s the furthest distance you’ve run so far?

I think the furthest I’ve run was just this random day where I ran, like, ten miles, and it was eight and half minute miles, which I was pretty stoked on, but I was really smoked after that. But, like I said, I’m not a great runner. I generally run shorter distances, but I really want to do a half marathon just to see what it’s like. Doing those triathlons, there’s something about the day of the race where your body goes way longer than you thought it could. 

Yeah, it’s amazing, isn’t it? The adrenaline gets going with all the other athletes around you... You sort of level up and go faster for longer on race day. 

Totally. And if you’re with a homie that’s pushing you, you’re going to go that much faster, especially if they’re a more advanced runner than you are. 

I think you should just become a full-time runner, dude. But if you ditched skateboarding to become a full-time runner, wouldn’t your dad feel betrayed?

[laughter]

No, no, he thinks [running is] cool, and he’s always been so supportive of everything.

It’s kinda funny that skateboarding is this ‘rebellious’ activity, but you’ve never been able to use it like that.

Yeah, I grew up in a kind of reversal household where skating was the first thing that would be accepted as a career choice.

How do you rebel when your dad’s a professional skater? Like, ‘Fuck you, Dad! I’m not skating anymore!’

Yeah, and, like, become an accountant or something.

[laughter]

Okay, last couple of questions: would you consider running a 100-mile race with 7500 feet of elevation?

Pshhhh. I mean, I would need to put in a lot of work, but I’m the kinda dude where if someone is like, ‘We’re doing this, and it’s gonna take this much time,’ I’m like, ‘Alright, if I have the time to put in to train, I will try.’ 

This phone call isn’t really an interview; it’s just me recruiting you for the Satisfy team.

[laughter] 

Dude, I’ll try anything, but it’s more that I would have to put in a lot of work, and I wouldn’t show up completely oblivious to how challenging something like that would be. But it’d be cool, so who knows? You know, I told my wife recently, like, I’m turning 32 at the end of the year, and I’ve probably got a few more years of real street skating in me—like, to make parts—but, man, I don’t want to keep getting hurt into my 40s. It just sucks, you know? It really hinders your quality of life. So, I think the end of my 30s will be a good transition point for me to maybe take [running] more seriously and put more time into it.

I urge you to get into trail running and become an ultrarunner as soon as possible.

I’ll do that, but first I need to find a teenager and transplant his ankles into my legs.

[laughter]

Right.

But then I guess lots of people who run ultras are just as beat up as I am, and they just go out and do it. 

That’s the attitude. Now, this is the Start Today issue, so what would you say to someone who is thinking about getting started?

Oh man, I don’t know... Maybe just doing it even if no one else wants to, just heading out for two or three miles alone... Sometimes you just gotta do it.

So, your message is, ‘Just do it.’ We can’t really say that here.

[laughter]

Well, I guess it’s a thing where you just need a pair of shoes and you can start running, right? That’s the great thing about it.

It is a minimal investment to get started.

Yeah, that’s what’s so cool about it. And you can literally just walk out the front door and go. 

It’s that easy.

It’s really that easy.