On July 10th, PPTC hit a milestone with our 2000th member! Some people in the club were watching intently and waiting for us to reach 2000 members. With a few clicks on a keyboard, Brian Hansen (he/him) became PPTC’s 2000th member. If you’ve been a member for a while, then you may remember that we hit 1000 members only a few years ago in February 2020. Did Brian know that he could be member #2000? Find out below.

What do you do for a living?
I work as a Systems Reliability Engineer for the IEX Group which is a stock exchange that was founded to combat high frequency trading. Michael Lewis actually wrote a book about the company called “Flash Boys”

Do you have any hobbies outside of running?
I got into Muay Thai after I moved to the city in 2008. It started out as a hobby and became a serious focus for about 6-7 years before I “retired” from competing. I’ve had over a dozen amateur fights, most of them here in NYC.

Your wife, Stella, posted about a cycling competition you participated in. Is cycling your sport (over running)? Have you competed in duathlons?

Yes! Cycling is life, haha. I bought my first road bike in 2016 and had my first race the next year in Prospect Park. Fast forward to now, I ride for Rockstar Games racing. We mostly focus on the CRCA club races in CP, the race series in PP and my favorite, the Tuesday Night series at Floyd Bennett Field.

I’ve actually done a sprint duathlon out in Rockaway Beach. It was during the middle of covid in the fall of 2020 and we were looking for something to do so Stella secretly signed us both up literally the day before. Neither of us really knew anything about duathlons, except that you had to run and cycle. Funny enough, I ended up getting first place overall!

Last year I was able to run the NYC Half Marathon through my company. I wanted to take it seriously so I set a goal of finishing 1:45 or better. I ended up finishing the NYC Half in 1:38 and of course the first thing I thought about was getting closer to 1:30 next time, haha.

Brian with Evy Barnett (she/her) showing off their height difference

I’m terrible at planning and actually screwed up the dates for a cycling vacation and the Half so I ended up running the Half on the back of 4 days of riding. I think riding up Mount Lemmon in Tucson, AZ 2 days before helped though!

Why did you join PPTC?
My wife (Stella) started running in 2020 during the pandemic so she was doing a lot of solo running. Then her job brought us to live in Jersey City for 9 months, where she joined a running club to meet people. When we moved back, she was hoping to find that kind of community again and looked into PPTC. She said it was kind of a no-brainer that PPTC was the best one out there in terms of size, accessibility, and inclusivity. Stella knew that I’ve been getting back into running and has suggested more than once that I join PPTC. She also told me that PPTC was getting close to their 2000th member and that I should join to help get there.

You seem to have embraced being PPTC’S 2000th member, as evidenced by your Discord username of bigbri2000 on the PPTC server. Did you know that you may be our 2000th member when you joined?

Stella and I literally live about 200 feet down the street from Evy Barnett, so we run into her all the time. We saw her walking down our block carrying Mr. Marbles after the NYC United Half back in March and got to talking about PPTC. I made a joke that I would only join if I could be the 2000th member and be called Brian2000. We have been accused of rigging the system, which is exactly what we did. Our official collective statement is, “We cannot confirm or deny this, but we can confirm.”

I normally wouldn’t ask this in an interview, but since you did identify yourself in your Discord username as “bigbri2000”, how tall are you?
I get asked this question very regularly. I am 6’5”. Then the follow up question usually is, “Do you play basketball?” And the immediate answer to that is no. It turns out I have hands of stone; very good for Muay Thai, very bad for basketball… The name bigbri actually comes from the AOL instant messenger screen name I gave myself back in middle school. I wasn't 6’5 then but probably still taller than everyone else at school. I’ve stuck with it since.

Hands of stone winning Brian a Muay Thai championship belt

How did you hear about PPTC?
Stella joining PPTC last year really brought the club into my focus but I feel like I've known about the club for a long time seeing members in their colors in PP. I sort of consider Prospect Park to be like a homefield for me between all the cycling and running I’ve done there over the last decade so it’s cool to join the home team.

Have you attended any PPTC events? What is your favorite PPTC event? Are there any PPTC events that you are looking forward to?

Again, Stella signed me up for all of the AGSS this summer without telling me lol. But, I’ve really enjoyed having something like AGSS to push myself. I haven't run a sub 20 minute 5k since highschool and that has been my goal for the summer. The first AGSS I did, I ran a 20:16 and felt pretty good about it and thought I could do this. At last week’s AGSS, my race chip said 20:01. #sadbrian But I think there is one more AGSS to get this done.

What are your running goals?

I don’t have any major event goals for myself at the moment but I know I’d like to run the NYC marathon at some point. My long term plan is to just make running a consistent part of my life (second to riding though haha)

What one thing would you like us to know about you?

I may have made myself sound like I'm all serious business but actually I’m a pretty big goof ball.

Brian running the July 19th Al Goldstein Speed Series 5K

Interview by: Linda S. Chan (she/her)
Interview answers: Brian Hansen
Photos: Stella Kim Hansen
Produced by: Linda S. Chan

PPTC is a diverse and supportive team. We want to celebrate the diversity of our club and membership. We welcome and encourage everyone to share their stories with us.

New Member Spotlight, Member #2000: Brian Hansen