Joggler Interview – Gus Tate – Joggling to Stay Fit

We recently met Gus Tate at this year’s (2008) IJA Joggling Championships. He ran a number of races andperformed quite well for a rookie joggler. He is 22 years old and is currently working for a hospital, helping to organize their 5K. In September he’ll be teaching English in Guangzhou, China for 1-2 years.  He lives in Lexington, KY.

JYAJ: What is the story of how you learned to juggle?

TATE: I like to think that the Princeton Juggling Club collectively taught me how to juggle. In the first week of freshman year (2004) I was looking for a new skill and juggling seemed esoteric enough to be cool, but I did not expect to become obsessed. Which is what happened.

JYAJ: When did you start joggling?

TATE: I spent the spring semester of my junior year (2007) in Melbourne, Australia. Having bookmarked the JYAJ blog at the beginning of that semester, knowing I ought to exercise more, finally gave it a try in the last few weeks. I joggled about every other day in Princes Park, my goal being a 5K downtown, which I quite anti-climactically overslept.

JYAJ: Why did you start joggling?

TATE: I wanted to try running and reckoned juggling would provide enough incentive to make me stick with it.

JYAJ: How many races have you done while joggling?

TATE: Three. Two 5Ks and one 10K. The 2008 IJA Joggling Championships was my favorite. Being around other jogglers was a refreshing novelty.

JYAJ: What are some of your most interesting joggling stories?

TATE: This past 4th of July in Lexington featured a 10K which was my first actual road race. I wanted to joggle, but I didn’t know whether or not I could keep it up the whole 6 miles, so I decided to joggle just the last mile or so. Conveniently, my house is located on the race route, so I planted my juggling balls on my front porch beforehand and planned to pick them up along the way, thinking that I would have run about 5 miles up to that point and one only have about 1 to go. Vast miscalculation. In fact, I don’t think my house was even halfway along, so I ended up joggling the equivalent of a 5K. I definitely wasn’t ready for that, but in the end that proved I could do it, which led to me entering the 5K at the IJA fest.

JYAJ: What kind of training do you do? How fast do you run?

TATE: Outside of these few road races, I’ve usually run with a friend around a park, sans joggling. I haven’t thought much about speed. 24:31 at the IJA 5K is my record.

JYAJ: Do you eat a special diet?

TATE: Nope!

JYAJ: How long do you think you will keep joggling?

No idea. But so far it seems like my best ticket to a healthy lifestyle, so I hope I can make it a habit.

JYAJ: Do you have any advice for would-be jogglers?

TATE: In the words of the joggling banner I saw at the IJA festival: “Try it; you’ll like it!”

JYAJ: Where do you see the sport of joggling in 10 years?

TATE: I think there will come a day when bystanders will see a joggler and, instead of saying “Ooh look, a juggler”, they will say, “Ooh look, a joggler”. A subtle but significant improvement.

TATE: Oh yeah, just in case there are any Kentuckian readers out there: the 5K I help organize is “A Midsummer Night’s Run” in downtown Lexington at 8:30pm on August 9th. Search for it on Active.com to register. My dad will be joggling it for sure, but it would be great to see other jogglers there too.

You can find more about Gus Tate on his YouTube page.

Thanks Gus and good luck with your new joggling career and new job too. You’re quite the world traveler. Hopefully, you’ll spread joggling throughout the world.

Check out the joggler interview pages for more joggling interviews.