Pre-Race Interview with Zoe Nelson
By Alison Wade

Zoe Nelson does some strides on the course the day before the race. (Photo by Alison Wade/NYRR)

Fast-Women.com: Is it easier coming back to this meet with a year of experience under your belt?
Zoe Nelson: Yeah, I think it gives you a lot more experience, lets you know what to expect in terms of everything that goes on and not just the race.

What do you think about the location change (from Orlando, Florida to San Diego, California)?
I like this better, it's less of an adjustment for me -- the temperature and the weather are more like what I have in the summer at home, instead of coming from snow and going to humidity. So it's less of an adjustment in that way. And it's less of a time change adjustment, too.

Did you have to fly to the West Regional race too?
Yeah.

Have you been missing a lot of school?
Yeah, I've missed five days in the last two weeks, so that's kind of tough. But I get it done. I took Wednesday off so that I could get all caught up, so that I wouldn't have to bring anything with me. I knew that there would be so much going on and I wouldn't want to do it.

You've had such a great season so far. How much have you improved, on average, on the courses that you run?
On most courses, it's about a 40-second improvement. That didn't really carry over to Regionals -- that was only about 20 seconds. But I hope that I can do better than that here.

And you won't really know [how much you've improved on the Nationals course] because it's a different course this year.
Yeah, I won't be able to compare. And especially because I only run 5k twice a year, just at Regionals and Nationals. The rest of the time I run three miles.

Has it been hard pushing yourself this season, without competition?
No, I don't think so. I usually just run the same race no matter what. I feel like I go just as fast on my own. I just push myself.

You have a great running tradition at Flathead High School (in Kalispell, Montana). How many Foot Locker qualifiers have you had?
Two years ago we had Seth Watkins and David Vidal. And last year one of our boys (Kurt Michels) got tenth (at the West Regional).

Are you the first girl?
From Flathead? I think so.

What kind of training have you been doing?
I usally just do about 50 miles a week and then, depending on where I am, I adjust the number of speed workouts. In the summer, I did about two a week. And then, during the season, I did about two. And then after State and training for Foot Locker, I did about three speed workouts a week, so it's basically just an adjustment in speed. In the summer I do a lot more long, easy training.

What's the highest mileage you ever do?
My highest mileage was about 60 -- not for very long, just for a couple of weeks.

Your state meet was a long time ago; have you had teammates to train with since then?
Yeah. We had 18 people from our team at Regionals, I train with the boys.

Oh yeah? Can you hang with some of the best boys on the team?
Yeah, on the easy days I can.

How do you compare in the workouts, would you be in your boys' team's top seven?
Well, it depends. Some boys are better in workouts than in races, because they want to be ahead of me. A lot of boys have girl issues. But usually in races, I'm about fourth. During the season I was about eighth, but training for Foot Locker, I was a little but farther up.

You're a sophomore, so you could potentially have two more years of this.
Yeah, I'm really excited. I love it here, it's a lot of fun. I hope I get to come back.

Do you know many of the girls here from last year's nationals or elsewhere?
Yeah, I know Amber Harper from last year, and I know Jamie Geissler because I raced her a couple times this season, and I know all of the returning people from last year.

Well, good luck tomorrow. Are you a good hill runner?
Yeah, I think hills work to my advantage.

(Interview conducted December 13, 2002, posted January 8, 2003)