An interview with Chris Camp

Guys like me … we rail against social media, right? Kids these days … wasting all their time on Insta, Snapchat, Tictoc … ugh. Notifications popping up on their phone every 5 seconds. Who needs it? It’s frying their brains, ruining their lives! I actually centered a portion of my class this spring semester – Public Presentations (Comm 101) – around a book called “How To Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Price (highly recommend it). Students in the class were mostly accepting of this forced propaganda by a clearly fashion-challenged adjunct instructor of communication. But when I suggested that they ditch social media for a week, just to see how their minds would react, it was met with a combination of apathy and confusion and derision. So, I just let it go. Where am I going with this long-winded introduction? Facebook. If it weren’t for Facebook, I would have completely lost touch with Chris Camp (Marist Running, Class of 2005). I wouldn’t have known that he rejuvenated an otherwise stagnant post-collegiate running career (by his own admission) to break 18 minutes for 5km at the Armory this past winter. While that might not seem like a big deal, it was to him and it is definitely laudable. I wouldn’t have known that he and his wife had a baby, a beautiful boy named Colin who will forever be linked to this pandemic (birthday = 2/22/2020). I would have never known that Camp is now running for office (yes, Kirk, pun intended!) where he now lives in Bergen County, NJ. And thus, he might never have been included in this Pandemic Papers series. So yeah. Social media ain’t all that bad, after all.

Camp was part of my largest – and perhaps most bizarre – recruiting class in history. As he notes here, I assembled quite a collection of high school running talent from the Tri-State area – sadly, most of that talent went unrealized during their collegiate careers. At times, I have used the term “train wreck” to describe this recruiting class. It’s harsh and probably unfair, to be sure, but it’s more a knock on me than on them. Ultimately, it’s the job of the coach to continue to develop, retain and grow running talent. Sometimes, you swing and miss. Gosh. I’m being awfully negative here. Truth of the matter is, these guys were good people and did do some good running during their time at Marist – probably more good running than I care to remember, which I’ll admit is a bit unusual. It was just a bit more uneven than we had expected. Such is life. Maybe we just had unrealistic expectations from this group. Ultimately, though, what I have learned through the years is that there is a certain randomness to the recruiting process, as there is to life. But again, good guys. I have stayed in touch with many of these guys, seen them at weddings and watched from afar as they inevitably grew up into productive and talented adult human beings. They all grow up eventually, and we’re proud of them all.

Camp was always a funny dude (he was in the HuMarists, as he notes here) and some of that irreverence comes out in this interview. His retelling of the true train wreck of an 800-meter race at BU is accurate and brings back a vivid memory for me and for anyone who was there to witness it. His post-race explosion of emotions was completely unsportsmanlike, unacceptable – and totally understandable. Dude got jobbed out of the race of his life. Feet and legs getting tangled at indoor 800-meter races – especially at BU, for some reason – are part of the territory. Happens every year, as guys on the current team will attest. A large portion of Camp’s group of alumni friends have been centered in and around NYC for decades. They are part of a generation that once again made it hip to live in the city. It’s neat to catch up with Camp here, reliving the past and seeing how his present and future are shaping up. Yes, we gave him a free forum to express his political views. If you live in Camp’s Bergen County community and you are on the “other side” of this debate? Sorry! My blog, my rules! Seriously, I doubt that this blog post will win or lose the election for Camp.    

Camp started his Pandemic Papers answers with this statement: “I responded over the past week in between diaper changes and working and campaigning so apologies if some of it sounds crazy.” 

Let’s go way back in time: How and why did you choose Marist? What other schools were you considering?

Back in the year 2000, I had three concerns in my life. 

1-I wanted to study something vaguely related to computers without knowing much about the topic outside of fact that I really liked to play video games. 

2-Trying to maintain a long-distance relationship with my older girlfriend who was, at the time, attending Ithaca College. Being the super mature 17-year-old that I was, this involved many emotions and raging hormonal jealously. 

3-Being the fastest runner in the history of the world. 

Marist had recently partnered up with IBM in Poughkeepsie, which made going there for a technical related major very appealing. Also, Pete, you did a great job with recruiting that year. You were putting together a potential group of Eastern states runners that had many names that I had admired from afar. I would stay up late looking up track/XC stats on slow dial up Internet and names like Ed Burns, Louis Albano, Sean Hopkins, Matt Peterson, Geoff Decker (who I competed against locally), Nate Parenti, Matty Collins were all guys I recognized and respected. It helped that one of my high school teammates, Mike Dolen, had also chose Marist. 

I had also considered schools like Ithaca (yeah, because of my ex-girlfriend), Lehigh, SUNY Geneseo, Union College, Colgate. But honestly, it was never really close for me. After the first recruit visit, I knew I liked Marist a lot so I didn't overthink it much after that. 

Talk a little bit about your high school career. How and why did you start running? You ran in the talent-rich Section 2 portion of New York State. How did that prepare you for your time at Marist?

My father had taken up running when he was in his 30s. So as a kid we would often go watch him run his races. One that especially sticks in my mind is the Mule Haul 8K in Fort Hunter, NY, which he ran every Father’s Day. The race was and still run along the historic Erie Canal towpath. I loved spectating and I couldn't wait until I could get out there and try it myself, which I finally did with zero training when I was in 6th grade. I think I came in at around an hour for the race. 

In 1996 (8th grade), I had decided to join the cross country and track teams at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. A year prior they had won their first NY State Class B title, this drove up interest around the program and the team probably had about 50 guys spread over the Freshman, JV and Varsity squads. I was always a fairly athletic kid but it was immediately apparent once I started running for BH that this was my sport. By the end of my 8th grade year I had already run low 4:50s for the 1600m and as a 9th grader I had the opportunity to run on a 4x800m team that competed in the National Indoor Track Championships in Boston. As I progressed through high school, the competition in Section 2 had really taken off. My junior year, I finished 4th at our league championship with a 5K time of 15:42.8 and I think the top 10 all cracked the 16-minute barrier which was unheard of at the time ... but I think this past season more than 20 guys did it in the Suburban Council. This gave anybody competing on the state and national level an advantage because you know that you had a full season running against top talent. We ended up winning the Class B title in 1999 and then finished 2nd in 2000. I loved running on that team under Coach Chip Button, it's no surprise that they continue to have such amazing success. 

Talk a bit about your collegiate running career. What are some of your fondest memories as a student-athlete at Marist?

My racing career at Marist was mixed. I had several setbacks with injuries over the course of my time with the program but even despite that I was able to put together some performances that I was personally really proud of. My freshman cross country season saw me miss more than a month at the beginning of the year but I was able to work my way into the top 7 by the end of the season after I ran low 33 minutes for 10K at NCAA Regionals. In indoor track, I found some success in the 1000m, where I was able to score some a point at the MET Championship in my sophomore year. I also was able to take part in several relays including a 1200m DMR leg at Indoor IC4As. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the famous 800m race at Boston University, where I was running out of my mind and split a 600m where I was on pace to run a massive PR somewhere in the 1:55-56 range. A guy came up and clipped me with a spike which sent me flying and crashing to the ground. To this day, I don't think I've ever been more angry in my life and I'm pretty sure there's video of me trying to attack that person at the finish line. I've never seen the video and I don't think I can watch it. 

But ultimately, I have to agree with what Liza recently wrote in her Pandemic Papers interview. It's hard recalling specific races and PRs and instead I remember much more of the day-to-day living and training with my teammates over the four years. I remember getting mad at Sean Hopkins for sitting around drinking glasses of leisure milk when that milk was clearly supposed to be used for cereal only. I remember messing around on guitar, writing funny songs with teammates like Matt Walsh (I think there was possibly a one-time collaboration with Kirk on a live version of one of his MAAC Songs). The sleep deprived Sunday long runs where we would trudge along through the first five miles, sprint the last five and finish with epicly large cafeteria meals that make my now 37-year-old stomach shake in fear. And I certainly will never forget the summer going into my senior cross country season where several of us rented a cabin in the middle of the mountains somewhere, we got lost in the woods and ended up running for 8 hours trying to find our way out. It was both frightening and incredibly fun at the same time. 

What was your major in Marist and how did it prepare you for your career?

I majored in Information Technology and minored in Information Systems. My favorite classes at Marist were always data and database centric and I've made that a central focus in my career ever since. The IT and Computer Science teachers were all so excellent. And because of that partnership with IBM, we got to experiment and play with technologies that aren't readily available at other institutions. It wasn't until many years after I graduated and had to purchase some licensing software through work did I realize the value of what we were given while in school. Development suites like Microsoft Visual Studio and database platforms like SQL Server cost tens of thousands of dollars per license in the professional world, yet I had this software on my personal machine at college. In a rapidly changing field like technology, I learned at Marist that things like memorizing syntax and computer theory are not nearly as important as knowing how to approach a problem and research solutions. 

Talk about your career path since you have left Marist – what jobs have you held, where have you lived, what are you doing currently and where are you living currently?

One month after graduating Marist, I moved to NYC and was hired by a small company called SRA International. We developed proprietary software for law enforcement and intelligence agencies across the country. I worked very closely with the NYPD and the NY/NJ High Intensity Drug Trafficking Unit to learn about investigating narcotics and vice crimes. I had my "Top Secret" clearance with the FBI for a short period of time (same level of access as Jared Kushner, lol). The work was super interesting but also very stressful. I worked there from 2005 until 2012, when eventually government funds to hire contractors like us were becoming more sparse. Eventually, I was laid off.  

I took a month to figure out what I wanted to focus on next. I was primarily doing software engineering and coding, but I always liked working with data the most (just like college). That's when I found a position as a Business Analyst in the Revenue Assurance Department at SiriusXM. It was an interesting transition, moving from a developer position to a more business focused one. But my technical experience has allowed me to excel in this role and I've built out our capabilities to handle massive volumes of data to find areas in which SiriusXM is potentially losing money or areas where processes could be improved for efficiency between departments. I've now been here for 8 years and am really happy about it. They treat us well here and are very flexible especially during this pandemic, which has been so challenging for everyone. The free radio subscription for employees is a nice touch too, I get to listen to both the home and away broadcast for every baseball team during the season. Man, I really miss baseball right now. 

Talk about your personal life – when and where did you get married and when was your child born and how are you adapting to life as a parent of a young child?

Another reason why Marist is great is because my wife is also a Marist alum. We actually never spoke while we were both in college together, however I did have a crush on her from afar. She was involved with the campus comedy group, The HuMarists, and I would watch her in shows every semester. I only had the guts to try out for the comedy group myself after she graduated. After Marist, we ran in some of the same circles in NYC because I had continued to pursue comedy for several years. We became good friends but didn't actually start dating until December 2008. We moved to an apartment in Brooklyn together in 2010 where we were heavily involved in playing in the 30+ team kickball leagues. Fellow Red Foxes Nate Parenti and Tim Caiazza were also part of the kickball teams. Eventually, we got married at the Shawnee Resort in PA in 2015. 

We moved to a town called Hillsdale in Bergen County, NJ in 2017 to be closer to my wife's family and with the goal of a starting a family of our own. On February 22, 2020, we welcomed Colin John Camp to the world! He came at a hell of a time. Pandemic fears haven't quite yet taken off but after coming home from the hospital it only took another week before cases here in Northern Jersey exploded. What's happening right now around the world is so horrible, yet my personal silver lining is that because of the virus I get to work from home and be around Colin Baby every day. I feel very lucky because I know not many new parents get to experience that. This coming weekend, Colin will be 12 weeks old and so far, he is such a great kid. He's always smiling and laughing and for the last three weeks he sleeps from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night without waking up. 

You’ve done some pretty good post-collegiate running and racing. Give us some of your highlights in that area. What are some of your short- and long-term goals in terms of running and racing (obviously, going to be affected by the pandemic!)?

If I'm going to be completely honest, since I graduated in 2005 I have completely half-assed my running career. I've run 8 marathons. I did have one decent race where by the sheer power of being a young strapping 26-year-old I broke the 3- hour barrier in the 2009 NYC Marathon, running 2:58. I enjoyed running and competition but did nothing to improve myself. I never ran speed workouts, I ate (and still eat) like a monster, I'd run 25-mile weeks to train for the marathon distance and would take random 3-month long breaks from training. And yet, I still would complain to others about being "slow." I would get frustrated but I had all the answers right there in front of me. 

After nearly a decade of running between 19:50-21:00 in 5K, I finally decided that enough was enough in 2018. I was going to rededicate myself to the sport. This was meant to be a full reset. I essentially started my career all over again at the age of 36. I found a local group that meets Tuesday nights at a track near me. There are several masters runners in this group that have inspired me to get my act together -- especially my long run partner Barbara Willock, who finished top 10 in the NYC Marathon for her age group at 56 running 3:24 the past two years. We're going to get her to go under 3:20 when races pick up again.

After more than a year of speed work and 50-60-mile weeks, I was able to put together a 1:25 half marathon performance in November at Philly. In January, I stepped onto the Armory track for the first time since college and ran the 5,000 meters in 17:54. Breaking 18 minutes was something I had previously told myself was no longer possible. I realize to the readers of this blog that this time may not necessarily be all that impressive but for me, personally, it took an incredible amount of work to achieve. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was one of my favorite all time moments of my running career. I also squeezed one more 10K in before Colin was born, running a 37:38 at the Frozen Penguin at Riverside Park in NYC. 

Of course, the pandemic has made future goals very interesting. For now, I will be taking part in the NJ Virtual Devil Road Tour challenge, which means I have to run the length of both the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway both north and south over the course of 62 days (579.2 miles) -- it's not too late to sign up and proceeds go to charity! https://runsignup.com/Race/NJ/AnyCityAnyState/TheJerseyVirtualChallenge

Other than the obvious work-related challenges, how else has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your life? Are you able to work remotely from home?

The toughest part of the pandemic for me is not being able to see friends and family in person. I hate that my parents aren't able to come visit to spend time with Colin during these early months of his life. That said, we are all trying to do our part. We only leave the house to get groceries or to get exercise. As mentioned earlier, I'm extremely fortunate to be in a position to work from home. 

What do you envision for the short- and long-term future regarding the pandemic on all levels: Work, family, personal, colleges and universities, etc.?

I think it's going to take a lot before life goes back to normal. Even as the numbers appear to be getting better in both NY and NJ, I still have a fear that culturally we are too eager to open everything back up in a way that doesn't fully consider the need to do proper testing and contact tracing, and the types of methods that other countries like South Korea have taken to more quickly address the virus. It'd be horrible if there's a second wave that hits the country come the fall. I feel personally invested because my wife is a NYC school teacher in a very large school. She doesn't have to go physically back to school before the end of June, but I worry for her health if/when she has to go back. 

OK. We noticed on Facebook that you are running for elected office in Bergen County. Here’s your chance – a free platform! What are you running for, what made you decide to run for office, what are your goals and what do you hope to accomplish if elected?

Yes! Perfect, a free platform. Alright, let me shift into politician mode. I'm running for one of the two open seats on the Hillsdale, NJ town council! 

When I moved to the area in 2017, I was interested in learning about my new town and how it works so I started attending meetings with the local Democrat club. I gradually became more involved by serving as a member on the Democrat Town Committee. Then this year, after several conversations with community members and the municipal chair, I began to realize that I had a unique opportunity to further participate and improve the town where I plan to raise my son. 

The pandemic has made it clear to me that if I'm elected I want to champion all essential workers who have bravely been fighting COVID-19 on the front lines every day. Our town has been completely controlled by one party for many years and so the opinions on council currently range from conservative to "far right." I don't see this current approach as one that benefits our residents. For example, in the midst of this pandemic, the council fought each other on how deep local tax cuts should be in the name of financial relief, meanwhile local assistance programs and first responders are begging for money from the community so that they can continue their work. Saving $40 annually isn't significantly going to affect the survival of each household in town, however it would go very far in terms of protecting our residents through these critical services. This is a time for our elected officials to reflect the values of their constituents. People are generally good and want to help. If we're going to get through this pandemic and the aftermath we need to support the volunteer ambulance workers, the food pantry, the fire and police department everything that helps us maintain the way of life we enjoy. I've made a whole career out of contextualizing information and data and making decisions off of that. So, I'm uniquely qualified for this elected office. 

While it may seem like an uphill battle, the demographics in the town have shifted in a way in which Democrats can win here in 2020. Our Congressional House Representative won in this town two years ago. They say that all politics is local and I'm hoping if I can set a good example throughout this campaign then perhaps I can have a little part in getting more effective leaders elected federally as well. 

I recently set up a platform to accept online contributions. I've been asking everyone I know for money so if anyone reading this feels inspired to help me out even just a little bit I'd be forever grateful: https://politics.raisethemoney.com/HillsdaleDemocrats 

As you know, our senior class was robbed of their final season (outdoor track) as well as their final few months as college student-athletes. What message or thoughts can you send to them?

I feel terrible for the team. One can't put a price on what it means to miss out on one last season with the people you've spent the previous four years with. If I can offer any comfort at all, it's to remember that you all have made lifelong friendships. Sometimes years will go by without hearing from certain teammates but when you reconnect it’s like you never missed a beat. As time goes on, it becomes more apparent how great those times and people were/are. 

In regards to running itself ... we're fortunate to love a sport that allows you to compete throughout your entire life. If you need to take a break, do it! Rest your body and mind. Running will still be here when you get back and even when we all inevitably start getting older and slower there is still so much joy to be had from competing.