Andi Camp

If I were to make a list of people that I admire and respect, Andi Camp would be near the top of the list.

She is an engineer by profession, has her own rock band and is an ace soccer player. But of course I know Andi as a runner.

She and I are both members of Team Red Lizard, a Portland area running club. Andi competes in track and cross country and road races and excels in all three.

The last two years, I have been fortunate enough to be a Hood To Coast teammate of hers.

Andi Camp, USATF Masters Champs

Not only does she take the leg that no one else wants, but she also does most of the van driving.

And she is also a kind and generous person. A club mate was recently looking to buy a second hand microwave. Andi offered to give this person one for free. There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that Andi is one class act.

And now she can add the title of World Champion to all of her other accolades. Andi recently won two individual gold medals at the World Indoor Championships in Kamloops. I finally got around to “interviewing” her.

Joanna Harper: You won gold in the 3000 meters and 1500 in the W35 category in Kamloops. In both races you were running with the forty year old runners. The 3000 was up first. Did you go into the race with a plan?

Andi Camp: Even though I'm not race sharp yet, my workouts have been going well, and I was hoping to run under 10:10. There were two women in my race who had fast seed times: 10:05 and 10:14, so I thought I'd be chasing them and that it'd be a perfect opportunity to run fast.

Joanna Harper: But it didn’t work out that way did it?

Andi Camp: I settled in behind someone and waited to see how fast we were going. The first lap was around 41, so I thought, ok, that's fine for a lap or two to settle in, and then we'll pick it up.

In the second lap, though, people were bunching up and jostling and I was getting annoyed. We came around the 400 in something ridiculous like 86, and I said, screw this and I took off.

Leading the whole race was not my first choice. I went into the lead with authority and was certain that 05 and 14 were going to go right with me, sit in behind me, and then pass me when I got tired. But there was no choice, it was too slow.

Joanna Harper: Andi broke the race open and finished more than 10 seconds in front of everyone else in 10:39:99. Andi considered it a glass half full.

Andi Camp: I plowed on ahead, finishing first in a lousy time and feeling like I had run much harder than the clock showed. But hey, it was a performance worthy of chocolate ice cream, so that's all that really matters, right?

Joanna Harper: After a couple of rest days Andi tackled the 1500. She was hoping to take down her 1500 meter PR of 4:45. She got some help as the race went out right at that pace. But by 800 meters the pace had slowed.

Andi Camp: The 800 was a tad slow (2:32) and I had to make a decision. If there had only been one person in front of me, I probably would have passed and pushed to stay on the pace I wanted. But there were 3 people in a line in front of me, and I would have had to pass all of them in one fell swoop to avoid dangling myself out in the second lane for too long.

It seemed like more of a move than I wanted to make at the halfway point in the race. So in those few moments I made the decision to change my race strategy. I decided to run for the win.

Joanna Harper: And by win she means winning not just her age group but the entire race. She followed the race leader until she came out of the turn with just over a lap to go.

Andi Camp: I managed to keep myself from passing everyone on that turn, but once we got onto the straight leading into the bell lap, I had had enough waiting. I made my move, and I made it like I meant it.

I'm not sure I originally intended to go that hard, but that 1200m split really got under my skin, and I took off like we'd previously just been out for a Sunday jog.


I had no idea if anyone had really come with me, but right before I made my move I saw that the 2nd and 3rd place runners (in front of me) were getting antsy, so I could only assume that they were coming hard behind me.


I ran like the devil was chasing me. I ran so hard that last 200 that I was rigging up and down the finish straight like it was a 400m race. I was tying up like crazy and refusing to quit driving to the finish, so much so that I actually stumbled about 5-10 meters from the finish.

Oh my god, I thought, I'm going to fall down right in front of the finish line and everyone is going to pass me while I lie in a heap on the track. Stay on your feet, Andi; stay on your stupid feet! There must have been a big gust of wind or something that propelled me those last few meters. I made it, but I'm not sure how.

So I only ran a 4:48, but I ran it the hard way, and in the process won a race that I hadn't expected to win. That was pretty cool. I don't think winning races is better than getting PRs, but it's a pretty close second.

Joanna Harper: And did I mention that Andi is also noted for giving wonderful race reports?

She ran 4:48.51 and beat the second runner (1st in W40) by almost two seconds. Andi will be out racing college girls on the track this spring, and hopefully running in Sacramento and on my Hood To Coast team again this summer.

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