Brian Fell

​About Brian

 

 

A Boston and Rhode Island boy at heart, I moved to California when I was ten. My passion for running developed in California under the mentorship of high school coach Don Jones. The loss of my mother in my teens was challenging but it also drove me to succeed. I entered UCLA as one of the top prep youth hurdlers in the US. I became the first athlete to graduate through UCLA’s Art & Architecture department. After college my focus was the Olympics. I retired professionally from athletics in 2004. Since then I have been trying to find a ‘second life,’ which has led me to Miami and DC and a career in interior design and sales. I find the Front Runners a great place for all levels and ages to enjoy some sweat, and a couple of half naked boys! :)

 

 

 

​Questions

 

 

When did you start running competitively and why? When I was in kindergarten I was beating fifth graders so I knew even then something was different. In middle school I almost got beaten up when I beat the fastest football player. My father tries to claim it’s genetics but I always tell him it’s because my mom had an affair with a black mailman!

 

Did you ever take a break from running? Yes. I didn’t run too much in Florida. I didn’t do any sprinting work - I couldn’t even look at a track. Still, in the running community some people would pressure me to keep training. They knew me as someone trying to reach the Olympic dream so they wouldn’t let it go.

 

Was it difficult for you to let go? Up until 2008 it was a huge problem. I still have friends from my class who are world champions. I was defined as an Olympic hopeful. Then when I stopped running it was a hard reality because I had to move on and re-find myself.

 

How has the transition been from shorter to longer distances? I was always good at mid distance. The distance runners were frustrated because I was fast like them but then the sprinters were upset because I could do both. I love distance runs. On the track it’s a huge ordeal: the warm-up, stretching, drills, warm-downs, timing, heart-rate. In distance running you can just go.

 

You are one of our fastest runners. Do you mix better with competitive types or with more social runners? Sometimes I can rub people the wrong way because I’m so competitive but I think ultimately people get it that I just enjoy it. I think other runners and walkers appreciate competitive runners, even if it’s not their cup of tea, because it brings a different dynamic to the group. The more social runners ask me more questions about injuries, aches and pains, which I like, whereas the competitive ones already understand their body and their sport.

 

Which is your favorite run with the club? The hill on Massachusetts Avenue. I get mad at our summer schedule because we don’t do it then. It’s the hardest run, the most fun, and the one with the fastest downhill. It feels great, but it hurts.

 

What is your favorite race? The Rockville Twilight 8k in July because it’s hot and hilly - and then there’s beer afterwards.

 

Would you ever run a marathon? I want to one day, even though it could reduce my sprint speed. I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to accomplish so remarkable a feat. It would be another milestone which would put me that much farther away from my sprinting past so it would be kind of sad too. 

 

What was it like as a gay man in the world of competitive athletics? Hard. I came out of the closet after my sophomore year when my long-term boyfriend and I broke up. My performance started dipping and my coach didn’t understand why. I kept telling him about my ‘roommate’ but he thought – if he’s just a roommate why aren’t you performing? So I told him, ‘he’s not just a roommate, he’s my partner, and we just broke up.’

 

How did he react? He embraced me in a hug and we both cried. He said ‘you are no different to me.’

 

That seems quite positive. What was the hard part? When the news of me being gay started leaking out. One guy, a pretty famous basketball player, would yell ‘faggot’ to me in the training room. The others would try to pretend it hadn’t happened. It was my worst nightmare. He later backed down when he saw how successful I was. But overall the positives outweighed the negatives in UCLA. I think my story would have been very different had I not been as fast as I was.

 

Did it inspire you to be better? Actually, I had a bigger cloud around me: breaking the racial barrier, which was larger than the gay one. Sprinters are mostly African-American so there was a sense of disbelief that here was this white, skinny person who was so fast. People would be introduced to me and say ‘oh but your white’ because they saw my name in the paper but never saw photos of me.

 

On a lighter note, how do the gays in DC compare to Florida and California? They’re so conservative here! When you grow up in a beach lifestyle you’re always in flip-flops and outside all year round so you’re more comfortable with your body. The beach mentality is really fun, whereas this town is very serious. I kind of miss those conversations about nothing. But I love the diversity of the bars and clubs here. And I love the beautiful interior spaces of places like Bar Dupont.

 

What advice would you give to new people joining? Give it time and be open to meeting an array of different colorful people. You will eventually find a new best friend.

 

What is your motto in life? People say to me ‘why do you train so hard?’ and I say ‘to win.’ There’s only one first place and no one remembers second.

 

 

Interview by Brian Beary, Design by Marcel Acosta

May 2010