I have a big crush on Rune Gilfberg, but he doesn't know it. We're standing in a small little skate shop a couple minutes from where I grew up and I'm trying to act professional, tape recorder in hand, hair wet from the rain.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" I manage to get out. He's wearing a hoodie over his head and carries himself with a zen-like quality that always seems to accompany professional skaters of his stature.

"Sure," he says casually. He's sitting and surveying the shop as Volcom workers strike their promo stand, post
screening shirts all afternoon for anxious teens. It's raining cats and dogs outside and if it weren't for him, I'd probably be knee deep in pow somewhere--shredding and celebrating the El Nio season. But Rune's the type of character who makes you wish it were mid-July, right around X Games time, with the summer sun on your face and a board under his feet; the yen to his yang.

"I thought we were gonna get to see you skate," I confess. Rune laughs modestly, as if people had only showed up for the free t-shirts.

"Where could we find you if we wanted to?"

"I live in Leucadia, near San Diego. It's a really good place for skating," he reflects. "A good variety of terrain."

Way of Copenhagen, Denmark, Rune has called southern California home since he was 18. The move put him in the midst of the skating revolution that swept the region nearly 30 yeas ago--of which Rune has and continues to be a dominate part.

"I skate a lot of pools now. More, like, concrete terrain and bowls."

"You do a lot of vert, too. What's the difference?"

"I think that when you skate parks and bowls, it's more fluid, you know? Vert's kind of a little bit one dimensional. Just kinda like, back and forth. So when you add the elements of corners it's a bit more fun."

This coming from a guy who could probably navigate his way through any situation on a board--Rune is X Games royalty (he polished off Gold in this years park competition easy enough) and watching him skate has always been like poetry in motion. No wonder he's making me sweat.

"Have you ever tried snowboarding? It seems really similar to riding park..."

"No, I don't snowboard... I have before, but I dunno. I was never really that big on it," he laughs. "That's why I moved to southern California, because it's warm."

It's not very warm today, but I cut the skater some slack. He's just gotten back from Thrasher Magazine's Skater of the Year party in San Fransisco and seems set on spending the rest of his afternoon relaxing.

"Have you ever won the award before?"

"Nah," he sighs. I'm honestly flabbergasted, but decide that awards aren't really Rune's style, anyway. His skating speaks for itself, and so does his longevity.

"Any plans for the future?"

"Just keep skating. Skateboarding is great right now. You have kids that are, like, seems like they get so good."

"Speaking of kids, you've got two daughters... Do they skate?"

He chuckles as only a father would. "No, not really."

I think about his little tikes for a few seconds and imagine them tearing up a mountain or skate park somewhere. They've got his talent in their blood, after all.

"If they want to, I don't have a problem with it."

The set-up is all packed away and the Volcom team is off to get sushi next door. Rune waves to me and runs off into the rain. And then a sudden sense of accomplishment washes over me. There I was, in the presence of one of my favorite skaters of all time, and I had managed to keep it a secret. Or--at least--I think I did.

Now--if I could only get the Dane to commit a season in the Alps, like the rest of his Nordic brothers, we might really see something out-of-this-world.

"I try to [go home] as much as I can, but tickets are expensive!"

I'll compensate you, Rune...