Interview with Lindsey Anderson
by Pat Goodwin

Lindsey Anderson running in the 5000 meters at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, where she placed seventh.
Photo Courtesy of:
Paul Pilkington

During the four years that Lindsey Anderson has been a student and athlete at Weber State University, she has never seen the kind of extensive media attention she’s been receiving these past couple of weeks. The reason? The 5’3” senior from Morgan, Utah, set a collegiate 3000-meter steeplechase record of 9:39.95 at the Cardinal Invitational on April 29, breaking the old mark by over three seconds. The time also automatically qualifies her for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in the steeplechase.

But that isn’t her only success story this year. She posted 9:46 for third place in the steeple at the Mt. SAC Relays. Prior to that, at the Stanford Invitational on March 30, Anderson posted a personal best of 33:16.12 in the 10,000 meters. She also won the 3000 and 5000 at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships and finished seventh in the 5000 at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Anderson will compete at the Big Sky Conference Championships May 11-12, followed by the NCAA West Regionals on May 25-26, and then the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 6-9. At Big Sky she will do the steeple plus the 5000 and/or the 10,000, but at Regionals and NCAA’s, she will run only the steeple. After that, she plans to take her steeplechase skills to USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis.

In high school, Anderson ran the 800, mile and 3200 at Morgan High, which she describes as one of the smaller schools in the state. She was a five-time Utah state cross country and track champion in level 3A (of five levels).

Anderson (formerly Olson) is married to Mark Anderson and the couple lives in her home town of Morgan. She is finishing her collegiate eligibility this spring and will graduate from Weber State with a bachelor of science in mathematics teaching next December. She is coached by Paul Pilkington.

Fast-Women.com: Describe your race at the Cardinal Invitational when you set the collegiate record. You led the entire way and won by 17 seconds.
Lindsey Anderson: I actually didn’t feel great during the race. At the Mt. SAC steeple race when I ran the 9:46, I felt really good the first couple of laps. But at Cardinal, I didn’t feel that great – not great but not bad. Going into the last lap right at 8:22 – I had to run like an 80 to break the record – that got me excited and I was able to pick it up the last lap. We [my coach and I] went to Cardinal to give me a shot to break the record. I knew beforehand that the race would break up like it did if I ran as planned so I was kind of expecting it. It ended up being a great race.

FW: What kind of competition do you expect at the upcoming competitions, especially at NCAAs?
LA: A couple of girls still need to run at conference and then at regionals. I hope they do because I want to run against the best at NCAAs. Right now the next fastest collegiate time is a 9:56. In the next couple of weeks I will know more about what the field will be at NCAAs. I think I can go faster if I have some competition.

FW: And are you also planning to compete at the USA Outdoor Championships in the steeple?
LA: I’m looking forward to racing at the USA Championships in June. It would be absolutely awesome if I landed a spot for the USA World Outdoor team. In interviews, people have been telling me ‘you can be on the World team” and I’m like ‘really?’ It is kind of fun to hear that and think about it.

FW: Then there is 2008 and the U.S. Olympic Trials as well.
LA: I have my qualifier already for the Olympic Trials in Eugene and so there is the possibility of making the Olympic team for 2008. Before this year I didn’t have these things going through my head. Now it is exciting to have these things to look forward to.

FW: You obviously have had a breakthrough in the last few months. Has this caused some changes in your thinking?
LA: Before this spring, I just thought I was a good college runner; I do well at conference and at regional [championships]. All of a sudden I have these whole new set of goals. It is fun to think about the future. I was excited to start teaching and coaching this next year at a high school but now I really don’t know what is going to happen. I am finished with all my classes this spring and will be doing my student teaching in the fall. After I graduate in December, I will probably help coach here at Weber State as a volunteer coach as I continue to train for the Olympic Trials.

FW: What has made the difference in your racing? Did you have a particular turning point?
LA: I used to be really nervous but now I get excited to race. I get excited to go out there and see what I can do. Especially in high school I would get so nervous I would be too scared to race and then not do what I wanted to. That is where the confidence comes in now. I think it has been a gradual thing that I have built on since the cross country season last fall. I got sick at the time of the conference meet in cross. I had a bad chest cold/bronchitis. I didn’t finish in the top 10 like I usually did. But a couple of weeks later I ran at the regional race and placed fourth, which tied a record at Weber State for the highest finisher at regionals, and that was just a huge confidence builder. So I was starting to build up my confidence and through indoor it kept building.

FW: Is there any runner who inspires you?
LA: In previous years, I didn’t really pay much attention to any of the better runners. But now, being ranked how I am and doing a lot better I have been paying a lot more attention. It has been fun to catch up on other runners and what they are doing. I can’t pick out any of them as someone who inspires me right now but I am amazed at what some of them have been able to accomplish. I’m looking forward to meeting some of the women at the USA Outdoor [Championships] in Indianapolis.

FW: When did you start to do the steeple?
LA: Weber State is a pretty good school for the steeplechase [the school has the NCAA record in both the men’s and the women’s steeple now]. When everyone comes here as a freshman, they start you training in the steeple to see if you like it and can do it. I ran it as a freshman. I loved it from the beginning and thought it was a lot of fun. It was so different than all the other races with the hurdles and the barrier/water jump. We first learned the hurdling technique. After I raced it that first time as a freshman, I knew I wanted to keep doing it. It is definitely something that you love or you don’t.

FW: Don’t you have some teammates at Weber State who are also ranked nationally?
LA: There are three of us in the top eight in the steeplechase in the nation [Lindsey is ranked #1, with teammates Sariah Long ranked #6 and Heidi Nouwhuis ranked #8] in the NCAA’s. I think we are going to do really well at the NCAA Championships. My teammates are awesome and they are definitely part of the reason I have been doing so well. We are such good friends.

FW: Can you describe some of your training?
LA: We do morning runs on our own, about 4 miles, so I run in Morgan where I live. In the afternoon, we do our longer distances and intervals. I do my interval workouts with Sariah and Heidi and then we run with the other distance girls on our team. We also lift twice a week which definitely helps. Once a week we do interval work over the hurdles and that definitely helps as well. If I’m not racing, I generally run around 80-85 miles per week.

FW: Paul Pilkington is the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach. Has he made a difference for you since he returned to Weber State in 2005?
LA: He is such a good coach and he is so fair to everybody. He wants everyone to reach what they can do. He has just been awesome and I am so glad that he came back for my senior year. He’s really helped me with my confidence. I’m glad that what I’ve been able to accomplish has brought recognition for Weber State and for our coach and the team. It is just fun to help them get recognized too. I plan on being with Coach Pilkington here in Ogden as long as he’ll have me.

FW: Does your husband, Mark, run too?
LA: He does run and both he and I were going to do the Chicago Marathon this fall. That was our plan at the beginning of the year. But now, with what’s happened to me with the steeple, we are going to wait until after the Olympics to do a marathon. It will be fun to see what I can do at that distance.

FW: Is he also in school at Weber State? I saw in a story about you that Mark said he had probably put 25,000 miles on the car driving to your races.
LA: Mark has been working full time and is a manager in his company. When I am done with school, he’s going to take a few more classes. He still has a couple of years to go before he gets his degree at Weber State. He is going into business administration with a focus on human resources. He does come to almost all my races and is such a huge supporter. He gets so nervous, even more than I am.

FW: Have your other family members been able to see you race?
LA: My mom and dad and two younger sisters live in France. My dad’s job moved him over there about three years ago but they are moving back this summer. Mark and I have been living in their house in Morgan. I also have a sister in Singapore and a brother in California who are on their missions. So my family is spread all over right now. But my mom got to come watch me at the Cardinal Invitational and my dad flew over for NCAA Indoor Nationals when I was all-American in the 5000. My dad and mom and younger sisters will be in the stands for both NCAA Nationals and at USA Outdoor [Championships].

Interview conducted on May 4, 2007, and posted on May 10, 2007.

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