Catching Up With Local Olympians: Steeplechase Runner Josh McAdams

Josh McAdams was an accomplished distance runner when he graduated from in 1999, but it took a few years for him to really find his niche.

After graduation, McAdams went to Belmont University, where he ran well but didn’t do anything “spectacular,” he said. After a mission trip with the Mormon Church to Thailand, McAdams transferred to Brigham Young University. There, the coach had him train with hurdles. The challenge came naturally to him, and McAdams began running the steeplechase.

That passion took him all the way to the 2008 Olympics.

“It really was kind of a dream come true,” McAdams said.

The steeplechase is like an obstacle course for distance runners. In the Olympics, the course is 3,000-meters long (close to two miles) and includes hurdles and a water pit. (Wired has an interesting article from a runner, along with some graphics.)

In 2008, McAdams came in 9th in the opening round of the Olympics. While it wasn’t a personal record—that came the year before at the Prefontaine Classic where he ran finished in 8:21.36—he calls the experience surreal and incredible.

McAdams, who’s been running professionally for New Balance since 2006, has quite the list of running accomplishments to his name: four-time All-American, NCAA champion, USA Track and Field champion and Pan-American Games champion, just to name a few. But there are moments from his career at Brecksville-Broadview Heights that stand out, too.

McAdams ran cross country and track for the high school and wrestled in the winter. He said one of his favorite moments came his freshman year when the 4x800 relay team, which McAdams and his older brother were part of, set a school record at the state meet. All of the members of the relay team were close that year, he said. Some of McAdams' records can still be found on the track and field team's website.

Four years after his Olympic appearance, McAdams still competes in the steeplechase and other distance events. He said he does a lot of high-mileage races in the fall and switches to the mile and open 3,000 during the winter. The steeplechase starts up in the spring and continues through the summer.

He didn’t qualify for the Olympics this year, but said he has “no regrets.” Finishing up graduate school and focusing on his family kept him from training as hard as he could in 2008, he said.

McAdams has been married to his wife Whitney for seven and a half years, and the couple has two young children, Millie and Logan. McAdams just graduated and started a new job as an optometrist in Arizona.