Photo: Anderson finishes second in 17:23 at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, North Carolina. Photo by Victor Sailor / www.PhotoRun.net

Whitney Anderson's first love is skiing, but after spending time in Alaska, the Summit High School senior took up running to stay in shape. What began as a fitness program turned into a passion. "Running is really simple. All you need is a pair of shoes," she says.

But on the Alaska peninsula, even running can prove challenging. Whitney's father, Dean, is a commercial fisherman and the family spends time there, in a remote village called Chignik Kagoon. "The only really flat area to train is a rocky airfield that's only three-quarters of a mile. It's hard to do intervals and stuff." But there is a plus, "It is very easy to breath there."

Anderson just started running a year ago. This summer she ran a 3200 meter personal best of 10:35.88 at the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento, California. It was a key race after winning the Colorado State Girls 4A 1600 meter and 3200 meter races last spring.

Whitney was temporarily living in Alaska during her first-ever cross country season last year. She easily won the Alaska state 1-2-3 cross country title in 18 minutes flat. She covered the 5K course a minute and 34 seconds faster than anyone else in the field and earned a 40 second course record.

Now Anderson is training with coach Lyle Knudson in Breckenridge and runs with the Summit High School team. Whitney says a typical training week during the cross country season consists of quality over quantity with hard intervals three times a week. "I'm working hard and trying to focus on what I can do." On recovery days, she'll run a tempo workout of six minutes hard, 12 minutes easy. So even on easy days, she doesn't slack off much. "I don't talk when I run. I couldn't talk when I run."

You might wonder how a competitive runner like Whitney can train fast when her Summit County home sits at an elevation of 9,600 feet. She says the trick is to train on a slight downhill grade. She'll often run up to 10,000 feet or higher, then race down to gain speed. Whitney says she never actually trains on the track, even during track season, but instead prefers local bike paths and trails.

Whitney has big goals for her senior year. She'd love to make it to the Footlocker Nationals. "That would be huge for me. I've come a long way since last fall." But she also admits that she's taking her newfound running talent in stride. "I take each day at a time, each race at a time. I want to have a fun year."

Whitney comes from an athletic family. She has an older sister who also recently started running and who currently attends Western State in Gunnison where she earned a partial scholarship to run. Anderson also has a little sister who is an alpine ski racer.

As for the future, Anderson wants to attend a college where there's a great women's running program, preferably in the northeast. As a talented artist, she plans to study fine art and illustration and has already produced several commissioned portraits. She also loves to travel and has visited 39 countries.

Which makes her Alaskan adventures seem normal. The airstrip Whitney trains on is the only way to get in and out of the village. After flying into Anchorage, the family takes a small plane to the town of King Salmon, then a bush plane to an airstrip in the Alaskan wilderness. And while Whitney says you can learn to like the isolation in Alaska, you can understand why she'll sacrifice the "easy to breath" air for the mountains of Breckenridge.