With the outdoor track season quickly approaching, Kenyon cross country and track distance runner Anna Brown ’26 sat down with Sports Editor Olivia Braun ’27 to recap her record-breaking Kenyon career. Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.

Team: Women’s cross country and track and field.

Hometown: South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Major: English major, studio art minor.

Olivia Braun (OB): How did you get started running?

Anna Brown (AB): I started running competitively in seventh grade, so I guess I was 13, but growing up, my mom always told me stories of when she ran track growing up. And of course, I thought, wow, she’s my mom. That’s the coolest thing ever. I want to do that. So when my middle school started integrating competitive sports, track was the first one that I wanted to do. I was living in New York City at the time and we didn’t have a track nearby, so we would just run around the park. And I loved the feeling of it, and I stuck with it.

OB: Do you have any favorite memories of your time on the cross country and track teams at Kenyon?

AB: I have so many, but they all involve running with my teammates. During cross country preseason we come to school early and all day is just spent running together and having team activities together. We go to Mohican for trail runs. We have early morning practice and afternoon practice. So it’s really an immersive experience of getting into the season and settling in before the rest of the campus comes. It’s so hard to pick just one, especially since, with doing both cross country and track, I’m with the team competing almost all year and I see them every day. And we train together and we compete together every single day. Just running with my teammates, with my girls. 

OB: What have you learned from your four years of competing in college?

AB: A lot. I’ve learned how to both push myself, but also the importance of listening to my body and my energy levels. Especially when it comes to being a student-athlete, managing both my training and my academics and learning when to give in either direction. Also just taking every milestone for what it is and finding satisfaction in that and not being too hard on myself. Running with my teammates, just the experience of being a part of this community, has taught me a lot about how hard work can be both fulfilling for yourself, but then also it is so important to create a strong community.

OB: You have broken a couple of Kenyon records. How did it feel after completing those races and what work led up to them?

AB: Running is interesting in that achievements are very tangible. There’s a specific time that you’re trying to reach and any success has a time attached to it. Every day I practice I’m trying to integrate it into muscle memory, but everything has to line up perfectly on race day for it to happen. My first record, the 800 [meter run], I broke when I was just a sophomore. That season, I had taken a big jump in my times and so for most of that season, I was right on the edge of the record number and I was trying so hard every time and it just was not lining up. It was after the conclusion of the regular season and it was this big meet where a bunch of people were qualifying for Nationals. And I was going abroad in the fall so I knew this was my last chance for a while. I was with girls who were slightly above my league and I just felt super excited. I just remember telling myself, “‘I’m going to do this. It’s going to happen.” And so I rode the wave, and I hit 2:14. So my coach pulled up the records after I finished, and once we realized that I broke it, we were just over the moon. It’s a long, dedicated process of chipping away at it. It doesn’t just happen overnight.

OB: Any goals for the rest of the season?

AB: As always, I’m constantly looking to PR. I would love to get a couple more conference titles under my belt in the mile and the 800. I would love to go to Nationals. That’s been a dream of mine since sophomore year. Before then, it wasn’t really on my radar, but then my coach told me that I was right there. I’ve learned from my time here that I’m capable of so much more than I thought I was. It is very exciting to have those horizons brought in. But overall, checking off as many more goals as I can to leave a bit more of a legacy.

OB: What advice would you give to your current teammates or future Kenyon runners?

AB: Really enjoy the community that you’re a part of. And understand that it’s hard work that makes it such a vibrant community. Enjoy this opportunity to push yourself in every way. It’s a lot to manage school and sports at the same time. It’s also a lot as a distance runner to wake up on Sunday mornings and run 10 miles. There are a lot of challenges involved in it, but the payoffs are always so fulfilling, and doing it with such a strong group of friends is really special.

OB: What are you going to miss most about the team and running at Kenyon?

AB: I’m going to miss so much of it. The family that I have here is very constant. No matter what’s happening in my classes or at home, I always know that I have the team here. I can always count on them being down at the Lowry Center at 4:30 p.m. and getting on the bus on Saturdays. My experience would also be nothing without the coaches, especially [Head Cross Country Coach Kirk] Shellhouse. He has pushed and supported me every day since my first year. I feel very lucky to have a coach I can trust to help me make my goals a reality. I’m just super excited to spend every Saturday outside in my last spring supporting all my teammates and having fun. There is so much that I can’t put into words. I’m going to miss it all.