Interview with Jenny Barringer

By Shannon Martin

It’s a good thing that University of Colorado’s Jenny Barringer, 21, didn’t have a great steeplechase race at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. Having won the NCAA steeplechase title in 2006, Barringer was ready to defend the title in 2007. However, she ended up losing her shoe in the event, resulting in lost time and rhythm, and a seventh-place finish. Not satisfied with this race, Barringer decided to run the steeplechase in the 2007 USATF Outdoor Championships. She not only won that race, breaking her PR by 10 seconds with a time of 9:34.64, but she also broke her school record and ran the second-fastest time ever by an American woman in the event. Now Barringer has a chance to run against the world’s best steeplechasers at the 2007 IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Osaka, Japan. On August 25, she will compete in the world steeplechase qualifying heats and she is prepared to advance to the steeplechase final, which is on August 27.

Fast-women.com caught up with Barringer on August 15, two days before she left for Japan. Barringer enthusiastically discussed how she became a world-class steeplechaser in one year’s time, and to what she attributes her running successes since she was a sophomore in high school.

Fast-women.com: You are leaving for Osaka, Japan in two days. Are you getting excited?

Jenny Barringer: I’m really excited! I’m excited to stay with the team the whole time. Being able to run for the United States as a junior was really exciting [Barringer represented the United States at the IAAF Junior World Cross Country Championships in 2004 and 2005]; it was a really important part of the beginning of my serious running career. I’m anticipating that it’s going to be much different being part of a senior team. I feel like this is another big step along the way for me.

FW: Speaking of big steps, your win in the steeplechase at the USATF Outdoor Championships this year was a big step for you. How do you feel having won the race, and simultaneously breaking your school’s record and running the second-fastest steeplechase time ever for an American woman?

JB: Going there, I knew that I wanted to do really well. I wanted to run a PR, and was definitely going to compete to the best of my ability, but I had peaked for NCAAs and I had no intention of going to compete at the USAs, so I had to focus a lot of energy on staying focused for two weeks longer after the NCAA championships. My coach [Mark Wetmore] and I had to extend my peak for another two weeks and I think we did that really successfully and that definitely showed in the race. I was pleasantly surprised with how well I did.

FW: Were you most surprised by the fact that you won?

JB: I knew going in that I had some stiff competition from Anna Willard and Lindsey Anderson [Willard and Anderson placed second and third at the USATF Championships; they too will compete in the steeplechase in Osaka] because they both competed so well at NCAAs, so I knew that they were a force to reckon with. Also, I really anticipated the professional women kicking it up a notch. When I went in, I didn’t at all think I was going to run away with it, and I did. The race did play out the way I anticipated as far as being really, really, really competitive.

FW: The steeplechase is such a unique event with the barriers. How do you find a rhythm and keep an eye on the competition at the same time?

JB: Getting into a rhythm is really important. That was the hardest part of NCAAs, not necessarily that I lost my shoe and lost a lot of time, but I also lost a lot of focus. It was hard not to panic. So, you do get into a cadence around the barriers and even though they don’t come up as often as the hurdles in the 400 meters, there’s still definitely a rhythm to it. I think it’s so important to go into the steeplechase with a lot of confidence, and not let any one little slip or mistake get in the way of what you are trying to accomplish.

FW: How did you adjust your training this year to work in Worlds when initially you had planned on stopping after NCAAs.?

JB: When I finished USAs, I took a little bit over a week off. I went back to Florida and enjoyed some time with my family, and then I rather quickly got back to work. I picked up just a little bit behind where I left off, and started adding on the miles right away. I did quite a few workouts on the track where I simulated the steeplechase, so that helped me get the focus I need to do well at Worlds.

FW: Do you feel prepared and ready to go?

JB: I really do. I feel that I’m more fit now than I was at USAs. I anticipate having another really great race, so I’m excited.

FW: I bet you like the training in Colorado better than the training in Florida.

JB: [Laughing] Oh my gosh, it is so much nicer here. The weather is amazing here. I think of some of the workouts I did at 3:00 p.m. in Florida and I have no idea how I made it through them. Training here is so much better because the weather is so much easier to work around, but also because of the training stimuli here like the altitude, the mountains, the hills; all of those elements are absent in Florida, so it’s exciting to be able to train here in Boulder where I have all of these amazing elements to train on every day.

FW: Boulder also has access to many great trails. Do you do any of your longer runs on trails?

JB: I try to get on softer surfaces when I can, especially for longer runs, just to cut back on the pounding on my legs.

FW: Let’s discuss the first steeplechase that you ever competed in; what influenced your decision to give it a go?

JB: The genius is in Mark Wetmore; he’s the one who really encouraged me to try it. We did it in practice a couple of times and I thought it was a lot of fun. My first steeplechase in competition was at Stanford and I hated it [laughing]; it was so awful because I was so, so exhausted after it. The funny thing is that I ran a really great time though, I ran 10:19 for my first steeplechase, which is pretty respectable, but I was so wiped at the end of it!

A steeplechase tears up your legs differently than any other race you run, so I was sore for several days. It’s an awkward event, and the first time I did it, I was excited because of the newness of it. So, it hit me in the face when I competed in it the first time. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

There’s been a major transition, though, from when I first competed in it to now. I’ve totally embraced the event and I love it. I enjoy getting on the track and doing it.

FW: So do you do a lot of plyometrics in your training?

JB: We definitely incorporate hurdle drills into my training. I do more hurdle work than I have ever done before. Again, there is a specificity to that which takes some getting used to, but now it’s part of my routine, so it’s not so bad.

FW: What are your thoughts on the fact that the three women representing the United States in the steeplechase at the world championships this year are all collegiate athletes? It seems to me that the collegiate women are raising the bar in the steeplechase.

JB: I think this is really exciting because from what I have seen the college women are really spearheading the event. There are a couple of professional American women who have had some fantastic times this year. To me, it’s really unique that I am part of this event where college women are at the forefront. It’s also really exciting that it’s going to be introduced as an Olympic event next year. I think it’s great that younger college women are taking on the responsibility for bringing it to the world stage.

FW: Speaking of the Olympics, do you have Beijing on your mind at all?

JB: That’s a year away [laughing], so there’s so much more going on between now and then. I have Worlds, other events that interest me, and my three seasons ahead [cross country, indoor track and outdoor track] of me and three conference championships to think about and focus on. So, Beijing still seems really far away to me.

FW: So you’ll think about that more, maybe next spring?

JB: Exactly!

FW: I’ve read several interviews you have done in the past couple of years, and it’s so admirable how committed you are to your team. Despite having the second-fastest time ever in the steeplechase by an American woman, you still seem very level-headed and extremely dedicated to being a collegiate runner.

JB: Thank you. I am very dedicated to my team, and I remind myself that I am able to compete in this event because of the great resources I have here at school.

FW: I know that you were involved with equestrian sports before running and that you started running cross country when you were very young, in elementary school. How and when did you start considering yourself serious about running?

JB: When I joined the cross country group in elementary school, it was an after-school program and I ran about once a week. When I went to middle school, a lot of my friends continued to run so I did too. Then, I started running a lot of local 5Ks around town and I ended up bringing home a lot of plaques for winning my age group, so that was so fun. The road races really made me feel like I was a successful runner, so I went out for the cross country team in high school. So, I started taking running very seriously when I was a sophomore in high school. That was the first cross country season that Jay Getty coached me; he really opened up the world of running to me. He said, “ I know you enjoy this, but you could be really good at this.” So with his help, I won the state championships in cross country. Winning states motivated me to run even better , so I ran really well at Foot Locker and then on to college and have been running really well ever since. So that cross country season was when the momentum started.

I think the greatest thing about my own personal history of running is that I started out young, but not serious. I enjoyed running from the very beginning- the social aspect of it and being outside.

FW: On the steeple chics website, you quoted 1 Timothy 4:12 as your personal motto [“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”] A lot of athletes attribute their success to their faith. Do you as well?

JB: Yeah, definitely. My running is an outlet for the strong faith that I have. I’ve been a Christian for as long as I can remember. It was a conscious choice I made for myself and I really think that God as blessed me with the greatest gifts—the opportunities, the level-headedness, the ability make decisions about my running career that I would have never have been able to do on my own. At the same time, I want to set an example for other people, and I want to love other people and live a life of integrity and character. I want to put myself on a stage where people can relate no matter who they are, or what faith they are, and if they want to know more, then there’s definitely more I can share with them.

So, yes, I am a woman of strong faith and I have actually done several things for Christian publications about living a life of integrity. I’m very proud of it and I feel like it has helped me a lot.

Interview conducted August 15, 2007, and posted August 21, 2007.