DarrenBrownRunning
My Story
What's up y'all! Thanks for checking out my site. My name is Darren
Brown and I am a professional track and field athlete living and
training here in the city of Austin. I was born on March 27th, 1985 in
Gainesville, Florida and have four sisters and a brother, of which I am
the youngest. During my life, I have spent time living, growing up,
and gaining priceless life experiences everywhere from Florida to New
York to California, before finally settling in Houston shortly before
high school. This is where my life took a decided turn down its
current path. My junior year of high school, I made the tough decision to leave the sport of soccer in order
to fully dedicate my time to track and field/cross country training.
I excelled quickly, setting large PR's in my first two years of training, which seemed only to catch me up to those who had begun much earlier in life than I. I graduated from Klein High School in 2003 with personal bests of 1:53.19 (800), 4:13.2 (1600) , 9:23 (3200), and 15:11 (5K Cross Country). I was not the best runner in the area, not even within my school, but had dedicated myself to a continual career of improvement at the top levels of competition. Because of this commitment, these times earned me a scholarship to Providence College as a member of their well-respected track and field/cross country program. I attended PC for two years, in which I was privileged enough to compete under coach Ray Tracy and lower my personal bests to 1:51.34 (800), 4:03.17 (Mile), 8:24 (3000), 9:07 (3K Steeple) and 24:48 (8K Cross Country).
After two years, I knew there was something missing. My running and racing was progressing, but I felt alone in my endeavors and accomplishments. I chose to leave Providence College and transfer to The University of Texas in hopes of finding a more team-oriented program. This was the best decision of my life! The "team-first" approach that the coaches and athletes at UT take was exactly what I was looking for, and because of it, I got the opportunity to compete on multiple national-contending teams. I also lowered my personal bests while at The University of Texas to 3:41.17 (1500), 3:59.99 (Mile), 8:10 (3000), 8:51 (3K Steeplechase), and 24:32 (8K Cross Country). My 3:59.99 performance in the Jerry Thompson Mile, at the 2008 Texas Relays, even earned me the honor of becoming half of the first American father/son duo to break 4 minutes for the mile. This was a stat that I had been in contention for with 3 other athletes for 3 years. I graduated from The University of Texas in May of 2008 with a degree in economics and multiple Academic, All-American, All-Region, All-Conference and National honors, none of which would have been achieved if it were not for the support and company of my family, teammates, coaches, and academic staff.
Following graduation, I knew that there was only one path for my life to take. While I was pleased with the progress my athletics had taken, I knew I had not yet reached my potential or even come close to achieving my ultimate goals. I was still not the best. Again, I wasn't even the top runner within my school, but I had begun to compete at a higher level than, and beat on a consistent basis, a lot of those athletes who had gotten the best of me in earlier years. I was also still on the committed path I had set out to run by having now competed at the highest levels of the NCAA.
At this point, I took the advice of family, friends and an adviser, Marty Liquori, and went to Europe to race on the international track and field scene for the summer. In my first race there, I had the unfortunate luck of being spiked with one lap to go in a 1500 and wound up in the hospital, where I received stitches in two 6 inch long gashes running from my calf to my heel/ankle. The importance of this trip, however, came from the valuable lesson my ensuing actions taught me about myself. Instead of giving up and returning to the states, as was the general opinion of those around me, I took a chance. I woke up the following day and flew to Dublin, Ireland where I was scheduled to participate in the Morton Memorial Mile. Here, I tested my true character and strength. 36 hours after being injured and told my season had ended, I ran a personal best in the mile of 3:58.35 and became a contributor to a race that made history. The 2008 Morton Memorial Mile saw more athletes (9 total) run under 4 minutes than any other night of athletics in the history of Ireland and is a night that Irish Athletics, and myself, won't soon forget.
Upon returning to the states, I found that my college coach had taken the head coaching job at the University of Virginia and would be leaving Austin to move to Charlottesville. He gave me the distinct honor of asking me to accompany him as his athlete and as a volunteer assistant coach. I accepted immediately, since being a collegiate coach was and still is a future professional goal of mine. This seemed to be such a great opportunity to learn more about the coaching arena through a man I shared a great friendship with and held in high respect as a coach. After spending the fall working with my coach, I confirmed my desire to coach on a collegiate level, but also came to the realization that my training in Charlottesville was not going to sustain the level it needed to be at if I wished to compete, now, at the highest levels of the professional track and field scene.
I made the decision to move back to Austin in December of 2008. This was a decision which had no second thoughts. The pride I feel being a Texan (yes, I was born in Florida, and I love my birth-state, but I am a Texan by choice) and the comfort I get being back in the city of Austin is something that never left me, even when I left the city. At the time of my return, I also forfeited a small national sponsorship in lieu of what I saw to be a more beneficial option; an option that had the potential of accomplishing more wide-reaching objectives. I wanted to create a system that not only helped me to continue chasing my personal dreams, but also helped to spread awareness of the professional track and field scene and its athletes throughout the country.
In our country's time of financial crisis, I have decided to put my economics degree to use. Now, I realize the reasons for a shortage of money and support in this amazing sport; I am not naive to those. My goal, however, was to figure out a method that could get past those barriers and help to foster my ability to continue training the way my competitors do ... with complete focus and dedication. The hope was that this would create a new market for all of those "other" elite athletes out there in the same position as me. These are athletes who still may not know what its like to be the best, but have from time to time shown they can toe the line, rub elbows and even beat the best. These athletes know that they are not done and refuse to let everything, the base, the strength, the drive, the fire that they have built up until this point, go unfinished.
When I began the process of accomplishing this goal, the idea was to create a city-backed team of local Austin businesses with which myself, and the rest of the elite athletes, would identify during daily training and racing. As most initial ideas do, however, the path took a slight turn. After qualifying for the 1500m Finals in the 2009 USA Track & Field Championships, Steve Sisson and Ruth England of Rogue (roguerunning.com) approached me about helping facilitate this vision. They have great passion for the sport, understanding of emerging athlete's struggles (Steve was one himself) and simply wanted to do more! They also agreed that being in such a supportive city like Austin gave us a strong chance at succeeding. We immediately went to work and when the initiative began, it seemed to take off on a run ... sprinting! Soon, we found ourselves with recruited national-caliber athletes moving to town, tons of local support, but a lack of full funding and no way to "give back" to those who were supporting our cause. From here, we changed directions and founded our team as a 501(c)3 NPO (Non-Profit Organization). This gave us the opportunity to give back to those local businesses and individuals who were supporting our cause while also helping us make progress on our other innitiative, greater awareness of the benefits and opportunities available through running/exercise/health awareness. Generating this awareness amongst the youth will hopefully help foster healthy outlets for at-risk youth, the betterment of the general population as these youth grow up under healthier living, greater opportunities for attending college and the advancement of American Track and Field performance/interest in the future. An enormous help to this cause came when National Sponsors started knocking. We had offers from several running companies to help fund and clothe the team; But, while we appreciated the offers and could use the funding, we weren't willing to jeopardize our mission and values solely because of cash-flow. After many months of discussions with one company in particular however, we realized we wouldn't have to.
The emergence of Under Armour (UA) in the performance running industry has been a blessing, and not just for us, but for Track & Field in general. UA's objective of creating their impact in the sport through support of the running community and its advancement is one that matches up flawlessly with our own. This proved such a great opportunity for partnership that couldn't be denied. We officially welcomed UA as our co-title sponsor (alongside Rogue) in January and feel lucky to be involved with such an innovative and dedicated company.
UA has been gracious enough to help with some of our initial funding needs and aided our ability to recruit more elite athletes to the Austin area. We are still growing however, and are currently recruiting 3 more athletes to fill our 12-person roster. Therefore, we are still in need of local support through donated services and funding (massage services, nutritional products, etc.). If you are able to help or know of somebody who possibly can, please contact me via email (listed below). I would love to hear any and all ideas on how we could mutually help each other throughout this process. We were incorporated as a state-level NPO in November of 2009 and have recently received word from the IRS that our 501(c)3 status will be cleared within the next 30 days in order to help give back to those who can offer support.
Through this site, you will be able to follow the TEAM building, dedicated training and intense racing endeavors, as I look to live my personal, International, World and Olympic dreams. Follow me and the newly formed TeamROGUE Elite in our pursuit to be the most competitive runners in the United States and World.
Before I end this Introduction, I must give a special thank you to my family, my best friends, and my greatest fans, who are one in the same. You know who you are. I can't thank you enough for your love, dedication, and unwavering support of me and my pursuit. I only hope that one day, I can be for you the rock that you have been for me. I Love You All!
I excelled quickly, setting large PR's in my first two years of training, which seemed only to catch me up to those who had begun much earlier in life than I. I graduated from Klein High School in 2003 with personal bests of 1:53.19 (800), 4:13.2 (1600) , 9:23 (3200), and 15:11 (5K Cross Country). I was not the best runner in the area, not even within my school, but had dedicated myself to a continual career of improvement at the top levels of competition. Because of this commitment, these times earned me a scholarship to Providence College as a member of their well-respected track and field/cross country program. I attended PC for two years, in which I was privileged enough to compete under coach Ray Tracy and lower my personal bests to 1:51.34 (800), 4:03.17 (Mile), 8:24 (3000), 9:07 (3K Steeple) and 24:48 (8K Cross Country).
After two years, I knew there was something missing. My running and racing was progressing, but I felt alone in my endeavors and accomplishments. I chose to leave Providence College and transfer to The University of Texas in hopes of finding a more team-oriented program. This was the best decision of my life! The "team-first" approach that the coaches and athletes at UT take was exactly what I was looking for, and because of it, I got the opportunity to compete on multiple national-contending teams. I also lowered my personal bests while at The University of Texas to 3:41.17 (1500), 3:59.99 (Mile), 8:10 (3000), 8:51 (3K Steeplechase), and 24:32 (8K Cross Country). My 3:59.99 performance in the Jerry Thompson Mile, at the 2008 Texas Relays, even earned me the honor of becoming half of the first American father/son duo to break 4 minutes for the mile. This was a stat that I had been in contention for with 3 other athletes for 3 years. I graduated from The University of Texas in May of 2008 with a degree in economics and multiple Academic, All-American, All-Region, All-Conference and National honors, none of which would have been achieved if it were not for the support and company of my family, teammates, coaches, and academic staff.
Following graduation, I knew that there was only one path for my life to take. While I was pleased with the progress my athletics had taken, I knew I had not yet reached my potential or even come close to achieving my ultimate goals. I was still not the best. Again, I wasn't even the top runner within my school, but I had begun to compete at a higher level than, and beat on a consistent basis, a lot of those athletes who had gotten the best of me in earlier years. I was also still on the committed path I had set out to run by having now competed at the highest levels of the NCAA.
At this point, I took the advice of family, friends and an adviser, Marty Liquori, and went to Europe to race on the international track and field scene for the summer. In my first race there, I had the unfortunate luck of being spiked with one lap to go in a 1500 and wound up in the hospital, where I received stitches in two 6 inch long gashes running from my calf to my heel/ankle. The importance of this trip, however, came from the valuable lesson my ensuing actions taught me about myself. Instead of giving up and returning to the states, as was the general opinion of those around me, I took a chance. I woke up the following day and flew to Dublin, Ireland where I was scheduled to participate in the Morton Memorial Mile. Here, I tested my true character and strength. 36 hours after being injured and told my season had ended, I ran a personal best in the mile of 3:58.35 and became a contributor to a race that made history. The 2008 Morton Memorial Mile saw more athletes (9 total) run under 4 minutes than any other night of athletics in the history of Ireland and is a night that Irish Athletics, and myself, won't soon forget.
Upon returning to the states, I found that my college coach had taken the head coaching job at the University of Virginia and would be leaving Austin to move to Charlottesville. He gave me the distinct honor of asking me to accompany him as his athlete and as a volunteer assistant coach. I accepted immediately, since being a collegiate coach was and still is a future professional goal of mine. This seemed to be such a great opportunity to learn more about the coaching arena through a man I shared a great friendship with and held in high respect as a coach. After spending the fall working with my coach, I confirmed my desire to coach on a collegiate level, but also came to the realization that my training in Charlottesville was not going to sustain the level it needed to be at if I wished to compete, now, at the highest levels of the professional track and field scene.
I made the decision to move back to Austin in December of 2008. This was a decision which had no second thoughts. The pride I feel being a Texan (yes, I was born in Florida, and I love my birth-state, but I am a Texan by choice) and the comfort I get being back in the city of Austin is something that never left me, even when I left the city. At the time of my return, I also forfeited a small national sponsorship in lieu of what I saw to be a more beneficial option; an option that had the potential of accomplishing more wide-reaching objectives. I wanted to create a system that not only helped me to continue chasing my personal dreams, but also helped to spread awareness of the professional track and field scene and its athletes throughout the country.
In our country's time of financial crisis, I have decided to put my economics degree to use. Now, I realize the reasons for a shortage of money and support in this amazing sport; I am not naive to those. My goal, however, was to figure out a method that could get past those barriers and help to foster my ability to continue training the way my competitors do ... with complete focus and dedication. The hope was that this would create a new market for all of those "other" elite athletes out there in the same position as me. These are athletes who still may not know what its like to be the best, but have from time to time shown they can toe the line, rub elbows and even beat the best. These athletes know that they are not done and refuse to let everything, the base, the strength, the drive, the fire that they have built up until this point, go unfinished.
When I began the process of accomplishing this goal, the idea was to create a city-backed team of local Austin businesses with which myself, and the rest of the elite athletes, would identify during daily training and racing. As most initial ideas do, however, the path took a slight turn. After qualifying for the 1500m Finals in the 2009 USA Track & Field Championships, Steve Sisson and Ruth England of Rogue (roguerunning.com) approached me about helping facilitate this vision. They have great passion for the sport, understanding of emerging athlete's struggles (Steve was one himself) and simply wanted to do more! They also agreed that being in such a supportive city like Austin gave us a strong chance at succeeding. We immediately went to work and when the initiative began, it seemed to take off on a run ... sprinting! Soon, we found ourselves with recruited national-caliber athletes moving to town, tons of local support, but a lack of full funding and no way to "give back" to those who were supporting our cause. From here, we changed directions and founded our team as a 501(c)3 NPO (Non-Profit Organization). This gave us the opportunity to give back to those local businesses and individuals who were supporting our cause while also helping us make progress on our other innitiative, greater awareness of the benefits and opportunities available through running/exercise/health awareness. Generating this awareness amongst the youth will hopefully help foster healthy outlets for at-risk youth, the betterment of the general population as these youth grow up under healthier living, greater opportunities for attending college and the advancement of American Track and Field performance/interest in the future. An enormous help to this cause came when National Sponsors started knocking. We had offers from several running companies to help fund and clothe the team; But, while we appreciated the offers and could use the funding, we weren't willing to jeopardize our mission and values solely because of cash-flow. After many months of discussions with one company in particular however, we realized we wouldn't have to.
The emergence of Under Armour (UA) in the performance running industry has been a blessing, and not just for us, but for Track & Field in general. UA's objective of creating their impact in the sport through support of the running community and its advancement is one that matches up flawlessly with our own. This proved such a great opportunity for partnership that couldn't be denied. We officially welcomed UA as our co-title sponsor (alongside Rogue) in January and feel lucky to be involved with such an innovative and dedicated company.
UA has been gracious enough to help with some of our initial funding needs and aided our ability to recruit more elite athletes to the Austin area. We are still growing however, and are currently recruiting 3 more athletes to fill our 12-person roster. Therefore, we are still in need of local support through donated services and funding (massage services, nutritional products, etc.). If you are able to help or know of somebody who possibly can, please contact me via email (listed below). I would love to hear any and all ideas on how we could mutually help each other throughout this process. We were incorporated as a state-level NPO in November of 2009 and have recently received word from the IRS that our 501(c)3 status will be cleared within the next 30 days in order to help give back to those who can offer support.
Through this site, you will be able to follow the TEAM building, dedicated training and intense racing endeavors, as I look to live my personal, International, World and Olympic dreams. Follow me and the newly formed TeamROGUE Elite in our pursuit to be the most competitive runners in the United States and World.
Before I end this Introduction, I must give a special thank you to my family, my best friends, and my greatest fans, who are one in the same. You know who you are. I can't thank you enough for your love, dedication, and unwavering support of me and my pursuit. I only hope that one day, I can be for you the rock that you have been for me. I Love You All!
