Filming Running with an Adidas Terrex Athlete
It started, as these things sometimes do, with a simple follow request on Instagram from Jeshurun. He’s been watching my YouTube videos and wanted to connect so, after a short DM exchange, we were meeting for coffee at Boxcar in Boulder to figure out what we wanted to create together.
I wanted to capture a chapter in his story. Nothing massive. A few minutes of video that could live online, showcase his approach to running, and feel honest. No fireworks, no viral tricks, no influencer polish. Just something real.
The Shape of the Day
Jeshurun brought along a little point and shoot camera and captured this fun behind-the-scenes photo of me
We had one day to film. That’s a blink in filmmaking terms, but plenty if you know what you’re doing.
The plan was simple:
Start in the morning following a real trail run with his training partners.
Midday interview at Jeshurun’s house.
Close with some staged running shots around North Boulder at sunset.
But even the simplest shoots have layers. My real goal on this project wasn’t to get great shots of Jeshurun running, it was to film who he is. Which meant first understanding where he’s at in his season, and in his head.
The Canyons 50K was coming up - one of the most competitive ultras on U.S. soil that year but Jeshurun wasn’t in crisis mode like so many athletes I’ve filmed before big races. He wasn’t tweaking workouts or chasing some illusory edge. He was calm. Almost casual. If anything, he was trying to hold onto the joy of the thing.
“Whether Canyons 50K is one of the best results I’ve ever had or one of the worst,” he told me later during our interview, “you can’t take away all the fun I’ve had throughout the season.”
South Boulder: The Morning Run
We met that morning at South Boulder Creek Trailhead. A few thin clouds hovered up high but the light was soft and kind, Colorado springtime teasing summer. Jeshurun pulled in alongside his training partners: Seth Ruling, a North Face athlete, and Cade Michael, another strong ultra runner. Each of them training for the Canyons 50k the next week.
The three of them jogged easy as I started setting up my first shot on the gimbal. This is always the tricky part when filming runners: you want to stay out of the way, but you also want to capture something beautiful not just footage of feet pounding dirt.
Trail running, when filmed poorly, can feel sterile. Repetitive. Like stock footage. But in person, you see the small things: the breathing syncopation, the quick glances at each other when the pace shifts, the beautiful vistas they travel through. That’s what I’m always looking for, the way to document things beautifully despite things moving quick.
Seth Ruhling, Jeshurun Small and Cade Michael on their training run in South Boulder
I leapfrogged ahead of them, parking my e-bike at various pull-offs, jogging out 100 yards to set up wide shots with my Sony A7siii and 24-105mm. A few drone passes gave us some breathing room, visual context. Boulder’s open space laid out perfectly with mesas and ridgelines melting into the distance.
Before we started, Cade started tossing rocks. A little game he plays on runs: attempting to catch them in a downward fashion in this hypnotic, escalating and simple joy. Jeshurun laughed. Seth joined in. They were just out there being runners, not athletes posing for a brand film.
That’s when you know you’re getting what you need.
The Interview
After the run, we met back up at Jeshurun’s house. The light shifted harsh midday, but inside his living room, I set up a simple one-light interview: Amaran 200x through a soft dome.
You don’t need much to make things interesting when someone’s honest and Jeshurun was.
He spoke in full thoughts, uncoached. Not every athlete does. Some are guarded, some are media-trained to death. But Jesh has a clear sense of what running means to him. He’s thought about it probably because he’s spent so many hours alone on trails where the mind wanders.
A screenshot of Jeshurun’s interview. Sometimes one light is all you need to make a good interview if you’re trying to move quickly!
“I don’t have the biggest VO2 max. I don’t have the biggest threshold. Anyone can do it,” he said. “I was one of the slowest kids on the high school team.”
That line stuck with me. Because at some point, all these sponsored athletes started as just another kid at practice. Some of them simply kept going longer than others. For him, after years of repetition and training, he’s grown. Falling in love with something simple enough to repeat, yet wide enough to keep exploring.
We talked about his year so far, the balance he’d finally found. How this season had felt healthier, more sustainable. The joy of mixing in days climbing Mount Edwards, skiing on off days, letting adventure feed into performance instead of stealing from it.
Of course, not everything had gone perfectly. Two weeks earlier, he’d raced Desert Rats as a tune-up and struggled. Mentally drained. Fatigued. The slowest time he’d ever run on that course.
“Yeah, it sucks that it’s race day. But you perform 365 days a year. You mess up one day, and it doesn’t erase the 364 other days.”
That’s the type of line you pray for as a filmmaker. Not because it’s catchy but because it’s real and that’s what people actually relate to.
North Boulder: Chasing Light
By late afternoon, we were chasing light again. This kind of light wasn’t one we always hope for as filmmakers, cloudy, gray, uninspiring. But sometimes, you just have to roll with the punches and make something captivating despite the weather.
We headed to North Boulder to stage a few final running sequences. These are always the shots that round out an edit, the cinematic b-roll, the hero moments, the soft-glow close-ups that give a film the visual polish it needs without betraying the honesty of the story.
Jeshurun showed up with the same quiet energy he’d had all day. No complaints, no drama, no overthinking. Just ready to run again.
We kept the setup minimal. My gimbal rig (Zhiyun Weebil Cinepeer) for the tracking shots with my 35mm and 85mm lenses to shoot at f/1.8 to get a shallow depth of field. No big crew trailing behind. No monitors. No agency calls.
Jeshurun running in South Boulder before snow sets in the following day
Just me, the athlete, and a shared understanding: we’re here to get something beautiful, but we’re not forcing it.
The trails around North Boulder are kind for this style of work. Rolling enough to create movement in the background. Open enough to catch wide drone passes and that evening, still enough to let sound design breathe later in post.
Product Without Product
One thing I’ve come to appreciate after years of filming athlete content for brands is how subtle you can, and should, be when it comes to product.
Yes, this was technically a piece for a sponsored Adidas Terrex athlete. Yes, Jeshurun was wearing their shoes and kit. But it’s the story people remember, not the gear specs.
We framed plenty of clean shots that showcased the product, but never in a way that felt staged. The trick is letting the clothing and footwear live where they naturally belong: on the body of someone who’s genuinely using it, mid-stride, in a real place.
Good branded storytelling doesn’t scream at you. It invites you in.
Post-Production: Letting the Story Speak
Once I was back home with hard drives dumped and some tea poured (I’m not a coffee drinker), the real work began: shaping the edit.
I always start the same way, pulling the interview apart first. You let the athlete tell you the structure if you listen closely enough. Jeshurun gave us a three-act arc without even realizing it:
Act 1: The season’s high points, where training was joyful and adventure-filled.
Act 2: The Desert Rats low point, where mental fatigue crept in and self-doubt flared.
Act 3: The reframing - realizing one bad day doesn’t undo months (or years) of steady work.
When you cut around real people, you start to see how personal storytelling is never linear. It loops, doubles back, contradicts itself, makes peace with itself. That’s what makes it interesting. That’s what makes it human.
Photographing a pro runner is always the best since their stride form is perfect. Jeshurun is definitely no exception. Perfect form!
As the voiceover came together, the visuals fell into place: the group run footage carried Act 1, the Desert Rats reflections layered over quiet solo shots of him running, and the golden hour sequences (despite being not so golden) added some higher quality visuals to his message of resilience and joy.
What Jeshurun Taught Me
You spend enough time filming athletes, you start to see patterns. The tortured ones. The insecure ones. The ones chasing sponsorship more than satisfaction. The ones burning themselves out in search of a peak they’re not even sure they want.
Jeshurun didn’t fit any of those categories.
He was open about the fact that he’s not the biggest engine in the sport. He didn’t pretend to be one of the genetic outliers. But that’s what made the story richer. He’s here because he kept showing up, kept loving it.
“Anyone can do it,” he said. “Whatever you want to do and have fun with - go do it.”
There’s a simplicity in that most of us lose somewhere along the way. Especially when we turn the thing we love into our job, our brand, our livelihood.
Spending that day with him reminded me why I started shooting outdoor films in the first place - not to make hype reels, but to capture the quiet current that runs beneath people who live for being outside. That thin thread between effort and peace.
For Brands Looking To Tell Stories Like This
If you're a brand looking to create authentic athlete profiles, this is the kind of work I love. Not forced narratives or overproduced hype - just real people, real stories, real moments that actually resonate.
Feel free to reach out if you want to collaborate.
Why We Should Work Together…
When I’m not on this website rambling on about filmmaking, I’m actually out there making films. From crafting memorable branded documentaries to capturing stories and products that move people, I’ve got you covered. Need a filmmaker who can scale mountains, brave the surf, or just tell a dang good story? Let’s chat!
In case I haven’t convinced you, here are three reasons why it might be fun to work together…
I believe in stories that stick with you - like campfire smoke on your clothes. The kind that makes you laugh, cry, or immediately want to call your mom.
I’m just as comfortable at 14,000ft as I am in front of a timeline. You get me in the mountains, in the ocean and in the editing room, making sure the magic out there really shines in the final cut.
I’ve filmed in some pretty wild places, but the best stories are the ones that bring people together. It’s those shared moments -big or small - that remind me why I love what I do.
Let’s Connect
Roo is an Emmy nominated commercial/documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado but travels all around the world for his filmmaking career. He has directed documentaries for Patagonia in California, produced films for Outside Magazine throughout Europe and Africa, camera operated for Netflix in the Rocky Mountain West, photographed among indigenous communities in South America, and has received notable recognition in his hometown of Orcas Island in Washington State for his work telling uplifting stories in the outdoor space.