5280 Distance Project is a elite and sub-elite running team dedicated to pushing the limits located in Denver, CO. Their team brings together athletes who want to set big goals and push themselves across a wide range of distances from the mile to the marathon and even ultra-distance events. They compete on the roads, track and the trails, and are committed to fostering a supportive, high performing community that thrives on passion, grit, hard work, and a shared love for the sport.

Today we chat with team founders, Ryder and Kezzie Searle.

About Ryder: While attending Colorado Christian University on a tennis scholarship, Ryder didn’t discover his love for competitive running until his junior year of college. The tennis program had just been cut and the head Cross Country and Track coach, Jon Poag, suggested Ryder join the team. After earning All-American honors during his time at CCU in the cross country and track, Ryder wanted to continue training and running competitively post collegiately. He set his sights on the marathon and after 3 attempts Ryder posted a time of 2:17! He qualified and competed in the 2024 USA Olympic Marathon Trials. Ryder loves getting to compete at a high level and after his experience at the trials in 2024, he already has his eyes set on lowering his time and going for it again at the 2028 trials.

About Kezzie: Kezzie also found competitive running in an unconventional way. When she met Ryder, she was an avid rock climber and loved any type of outdoor recreation. One day, Jon Poag saw Kezzie running with a former CCU runner and asked Ryder about her. Fast forward, and Kezzie was running at CCU. She competed for the cougars from 2020 to the fall of 2021 and stayed with the team as a volunteer for another semester. Post collegiately Kezzie’s first taste of road racing was 2022 CIM. She initially was not planning on racing the full marathon but since Ryder and a group of their friends were racing, she made the decision the Sunday before the race that she’d run the full. With 14 miles being the longest she had run that fall leading up to the race, she surprised herself by clocking a finishing time of 2:54. While she has always loved pushing herself and seeing what she is capable of, that marathon experience made her want to continue to pursue competitive running, experiment with training, and try racing different distances.

We hope you are enjoying hearing about all the different teams, their visions, hopes and dreams.

Today's guest is Carmen Pelar Graves. She is a three-time Olympic Trials qualifier in track and field, specializing in the 3000-meter steeplechase, where she holds an impressive personal record of 9:32. Recruited to Roanoke College for soccer, she discovered a talent for track and field, competing as a sprinter and jumper before gradually transitioning to longer distances. Her dedication paid off when she qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the steeplechase.

After her professional running career was interrupted by injury, Carmen took a break from the sport, only to rediscover her passion during the pandemic. Coaching herself, she returned to elite competition, earning a spot in the 2021 Olympic Trials and representing Team USA in the steeplechase at the 2022 World Championships.

As a co-founder of Denver Athletics, with her husband Sean, Carmen is deeply committed to fostering community through running. She organizes all-comers track meets to unite Denver’s running community and inspire athletes of all levels. Running professionally for Oiselle, Carmen continues to compete at the highest levels while giving back to the sport she loves.

Learn more more about Denver Athletics here: https://denverathletics.org/

Dani is an elite runner and high school cross country coach in Fort Collins, Colorado. Originally from Bloomington, Indiana, Dani ran collegiately at Indiana State University where she was a 2-time conference champion and then trained with Team Indiana Elite for three years. During this time, she coached at a high school in Indiana then collegiately at Western Michigan and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

Since 2016, Dani has been the head cross country coach and assistant track coach at Fossil Ridge High School. Thoughtout this time, she has grown the cross country program into the best in Fossil Ridge history, with both boys and girls teams finishing near the top of the state in the 5A division. This year, the boys had a top 10 finish at the state championship and the girls team finished top 3 for the second year in a row. Additionally, the girls team qualified for Nike Cross Nationals in December, where they finished 8th through some muddy, rainy conditions in Portland, Oregon.

Dani also has an impressive running resume herself, running in the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials after qualifying with a 2:43:16 at Grandma’s Marathon. Her husband, Mr. Coach Cook, and 2 kids are an integral part of the Fossil Ridge team, fostering a family-like environment with the more the 100 high schoolers on the team. We are so excited to sit down and chat with Dani Cook!