Hearing Your Stories: Wendi Anderson

'Probably a big part of why I push myself the way I do is the life that got me here, especially the hard parts'

Morning, friends! ☀️

Last night, I had a Substack Live conversation with MaryAnn McKibben Dana and Edward Goode about everything that inspires us about running and sports, especially the books, movies and stories we love.

That’s when it dawned on me: the stories I love most involve a character — like Louis Zamperini in Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, or really all the lead characters in her bestseller Seabiscuit: An American Legend — who discovers a talent they didn’t know they had, often well into mid-life.

I think that’s what I found so inspiring about Wendi Anderson’s story, whose path echoes many of ours — as a mom who found herself facing a potentially serious health challenge in her forties, she realized she needed to make a change. A big change.

Instead of shying away from it, or burying her head in the sand, she faced it. And ended up changing her life (for the better!) in ways she never could have expected.

I found so much to love and relate to in her story, and I know you will too. As always, keep in touch and let me know how your running/life is going! And if you’d like to share your story, I’d love to hear it. — Terrell

So, let’s hear a little bit about you! Who are you, your age (if you’d like to share), where you’re from, what you do, etc.

Hi, I’m Wendi… an almost 51-year-old wife, boy mom, photographer, and outdoor enthusiast. I work full time and LOVE to run events of all kinds!

What does your running routine look like? How many times a week, and how far do you run?

I am a hybrid athlete, so I have an extremely varied workout schedule. I usually run 3 times a week. These are quite often 60-minute zone 2 runs, occasionally longer on Saturday. Sometimes intervals and speed work thrown in.

The other three days of work are either weight lifting, my first love, or DEKA skill work. This year I am trying to trifecta qualify for DEKA Worlds in the Ruck division, so some days the workouts or runs include wearing a 20-pound ruck pack.

Courtesy Wendi Anderson

Were you an athletic kid growing up? What are your early memories of what fitness and health were about?

I wasn’t allowed to play sports growing up. I danced, but dance looked different 40 to 45 years ago than it does today, so although it was active I never considered it to be an athletic endeavor. Sports were for the boys at my house.

How did you first get into running? Was there something that inspired you — like a performance at the Olympics, for example, or a runner you discovered by watching them on social media or TV? Or was there someone in your own life who inspired you to think, ‘maybe I can do this?’

It was an evolutionary accident!

Back in 2017, I was over 200 pounds with extremely high risk of developing diabetes. I was working full time, had three boys all in sports year round and was earning a bachelor’s degree (I was attending college as a “mature adult” after spending most of my life thinking I’d never earn a degree).

I knew I needed to get my health in check, so I made the decision that after I graduated I would then take on that pursuit. That summer, my lifestyle change began. My only goal was to get healthy to avoid diabetes.

Fast forward to 2019, I am down 70 pounds and loving working out and adjusting to my new body. I had run out of time at the gym to complete a full workout — thanks to mom duty — so decided that I would run at the park where my son was having baseball practice.

I was just doing laps around for 30 minutes and when I looked at my watch I saw how far I had gone with surprise. I think it was about a 5K. I thought to myself, that’s kinda fast… maybe I should run a Spartan.

Where that came from I really don’t know. I didn’t know anyone that had done one, really didn’t know anything about it. Well, I told my friend, who I then found out had done one — and she said let’s do it. We did, in June of 2019. I… was… hooked.

That day, I decided I would try and do a Trifecta in 2020. I started my pursuit in January, finishing another Spartan Sprint, which is a 5K with obstacles. Then, of course, 2020 happened and halted it all, but I continued to train, but still not running very much.

Once things began to open up and my 2021 plan was in place, I started to work towards the required distances for the Super and Beast. I generally ran once a week and started increasing from 3 miles up to 6 for the 10K Super.

After I finished my first of that distance, I increased a bit, running the half marathon distance once before taking on the Beast course. To this date my longest training run is a half marathon distance, and I think I’ve only done that twice. Running at this time was purely to build confidence about running the distance between obstacles. (My hashtag was #notarunner!)

I earned my first Spartan Trifecta in 2021, and have gone on to complete 8, a couple of which are known as “ultra-fectas,” and several accomplished in a single weekend. I am also working on my fourth DEKA Trifecta.

Courtesy Wendi Anderson

How has your interest in running evolved since then? Do you run farther, or faster now?

Now, I am a trail runner and an athlete — two terms that I had a very hard time internalizing and saying without being uncomfortable. I wish I could say I have gotten faster, but that is not entirely the case. Farther, definitely.

I went from running between obstacles to simply running. I have completed two trail 50Ks, a 50-mile lap race, numerous 10Ks and half marathons with more than a few local 5 and 10K road events. I usually just do those to support local charities. Next weekend I will take on my first 100K — I’m pretty nervous, but excited to see how it goes.

What do you balance your running with? Do you have a family to take care of? Kids, parents or other relatives or loved ones? If so, how do you balance all of it and still make time to run/care for yourself?

As far as balance, I probably do more races/events than my family would like, but they are super supportive and don’t hold me back. I try to maintain a reasonable schedule of local and travel events so I am not gone too much.

My boys are adults now, with the “baby” graduating in June and the older two out of the house. Even so I am very connected to them, and being a good wife is super important to me, so I still keep most of my workouts to an hour and in the morning before work, so that I can have evenings to focus on family.

Is there anything you’re especially proud of that you can point to your running and say, ‘this helped me achieve ______’?

Finding the Spartan and Trail running community has changed my life. It has put me down a path I didn’t know existed.

It has given me a place of belonging and challenge I could have never dreamed of. There are moments throughout that have changed me as a person and opened up doors I never thought I’d walk through.

Little things like learning to eat alone, the empowerment that comes from traveling alone and learning to fill the space that comes with that. These are the things that I never even knew I needed to learn until I got there.

What have you learned about yourself from your running journey? Is there anything that’s changed about you since you started?

I often tell people: this was never the plan. I have learned that I can achieve things that I never even thought to consider.

Like my husband likes to remind me, especially when I am upset about a race result, in the not-so-distant past I couldn’t run to the mailbox. Now I am running 50-plus miles…wow.

Where would you like to go with your running? Is there anything special you’d like to achieve — like, say, running all six World Marathon Majors, or running an ultra?

I don’t have any big running goals past the 100K this weekend. I have several races on my list, but haven’t set any more goals. I think it will start being more about locations than adding distance.

I love variety and to start getting into 100-mile-plus races would push my training needs in a direction I am not sure I want to go. I’d still rather lift than run anyday.

My biggest goal is DEKA Worlds. I am looking to get in a couple more qualifiers and be faster there. I want to make sure I am competitive at all 3 events.

Wendi, center, along with her family (Courtesy Wendi Anderson)

What keeps you going? Especially if you’ve been running for a while — do you ever get bored with it? How do you find new things to motivate you, to keep you going?

I love events. I sign up for as many as I can, while staying married and not going broke 🤣 Honestly it’s an addiction, and if I don’t have something scheduled I am a wreck.

I’ve had different addictions throughout my life though — not drugs, thank goodness; that’s something I knew I couldn’t handle, so I never even smoked —and this is the healthiest.

Look back at yourself when you were a kid, maybe say 10 years old. Remember how you felt, what you thought, especially what you thought you were capable of back then. If you could talk to that kid now, what would you say?

I don’t know. I don’t have a whole lot of childhood memories, and I don’t think I can even picture myself at that age. I might warn her that even when she is 50, Dad wouldn’t like her doing sports stuff, ha.

I guarantee there is no way she would believe any of this, there was too much darkness. Probably a big part of why I push myself the way I do, is the life that got me here, especially the hard parts. I think I am trying to mostly learn to look forward.

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