Interview: Anthony Famiglietti

By Beth Whitney

Anthony Famiglietti, 27, is one of six Olympians who will contest the Health Kidney 10K in Central Park on May 20. The 2002 national champion in the 3000-meter steeplechase and a World University Games gold medalist in the event, Famiglietti’s career as a top American steepler also includes three runner-up performances at the national championships (in 2001, 2004, and 2005) and a Pan Am bronze medal in 2003. Armed with a steeple chase PR of 8:17:91 (set in 2004 en route to a second place finish and a spot on the Olympic Team), “Fam,” as he is known to his friends, has made chasing down the American record his primary focus, despite posting stellar times in other events. In addition to strong 1500-meter (3:37.98) and 5000-meter (13:38) PRs, Famiglietti recently added an even more impressive mark to this list with his 27:37.74 10,000-meter debut at Stanford’s Cardinal Invite. Perhaps most pertinent to the Healthy Kidney 10K, Famiglietti has placed second (in 2004) and third (2002) at the national 8K championships held in Central Park.

Famiglietti, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, lives in New York City, just a few blocks away from Central Park, where he trains most days. Although he denies having a “Type A” personality, Famiglietti throws himself into his creative endeavors with as much focus as he does his running. A painter and musician, he is working on a low-budget docudrama called “Run Like Hell.” Originally planned as a training video that would appeal to runners rather than just coaches, it has since evolved into a narrative that ponders the questions of what it means to be a runner, and attempts to capture the day-to-day lifestyle that the sport demands. A trailer will soon be available on Famiglietti’s Web site, www.runfam.com.

Mensracing.com caught up with Famiglietti in Manhattan at an exhibition of work by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

MensRacing.com: Seeing as the Healthy Kidney 10K is taking place on your home training course, do you feel it’s your duty to defend your turf? Is there a home team advantage?
Anthony Famiglietti: I'm just going to treat the 10K race in Central Park like any other workout day for me. It will be like a typical workout day in the park with special guest appearances by the world's best runners to help me run well.

Speaking of best in the world, Craig Mottram is a favorite of my [contemporaries]. I truly admire his style and approach to the sport. We get along famously. I expect that he would expect me to bring my best and challenge him. That includes a little trash talk from time to time to make things more interesting and fun. A whoopin' will be given. Whether I administer the whoopin' or take the beating is yet to be seen. Craig himself says even though he races the world's best he refuses to be intimidated. I'll take that bit of advice and give him my worst.

MR: You’ve mentioned that people only know about who you are from interviews, and there are so few interviews with you. It comes across as though the steeple is your life. You’ve run other events well, like the mile, but it’s always been, “How can I apply this to the steeplechase?” Is this public perception based just on how someone has conducted an interview, or have you really always felt this way?
AF: No matter what you do in this sport, bad or good, you’re going to be labeled right away; you’re going to be put in a little box. For some reason, there’s a lot of negativity in this sport; there needs to be more “positivity.” No matter what you do, you’re going to be labeled as something, so even though I’ve run great races on the roads, I’m going to be labeled as a steepler. I guess whatever your event is at the Olympic Trials, whatever your event is at the Olympics, that’s what you’re going to labeled as. I didn’t mind—I considered myself a steeplechaser that entire time anyway.

But I knew I had the ability to run a very fast 5000 meters and a very fast 3000 meters. And even the 1500, you know, where I’ve gone sub-4:00 in the mile and 3:37 in the 1500 without doing specific training. I know I could get really far down in the mile if I tried.

You’re faced with a difficult situation if you’re good at everything you focus your energy on, but you’re focusing most of your energy on the steeplechase, so all of your other events are going to hurt. It’s kind of like being the decathlete of runners. I can run a fast 800 meters, I can run the 1500, I wouldn’t be surprised if I could run a really fast marathon. As a steeplechaser, you have the ability to do so many races. I decided to put all of my energy and all of my training toward the steeplechase. I was running 8:20 [for the steeplechase] in 2001 and I hit mostly 8:20s in 2005. I kept hitting this wall, you know? The times I was really fit to go maybe 8:10 pace, 8:15 pace, well under 8:15 pace, I either clipped a hurdle, or got injured. I remember I got injured at the [2002 national] championships coming off the water jump—I won the race but I ripped my tendon.

For instance, I didn’t want to mention this, but I sprained my ankle at the steeplechase last weekend [which Famiglietti won in 8:24]. I came off a great 10,000 meters, and I’m super fit, and I came over the water jump pre-race, and I sprained my ankle. I ran the whole race with a sprained ankle. I get done and I have to take two days off because of the event. That’s the way it is with the water jump. If they don’t fill the water pit enough, you’re landing on hard track, and you can sprain your ankle very easily. Or they fill it up but it drains before the event starts. There’s no official that comes out and measures the water to know what’s going on. I can’t blame them for that kind of mistake.

It just makes me even more frustrated, since I know I can run a great 10,000 meters, which I did, and then I go and run a steeplechase and get hurt. Every time I’m fit enough to run well under 8:20 or 8:15, there’s something that happens. Tim Broe faced that same sort of thing in 2002, when he broke his foot going over a water jump on a test run before a race. He’s had to face that injury still, even to this year. So the steeplechase is a great event, but at the same time you can get stung by it a lot. The way that you can tell if you are a great steeplechaser is when you get stung by the event and you keep running it.

I got stung by the event at the Olympics really bad, where, I think, I was in shape to run well under the American record. The workouts I was doing on the track, and the times I’d run in Europe prior to the meet...I’d run a 3:57 [mile] with relative ease, that was my last race in Europe, so I felt I had an even faster speed in me if I really trained. Then I get in the race in Athens, and with four laps to go, I was going to take off. So, I sat back in second or third position. I got distracted—I looked up to see how many laps were left. I did this just before a hurdle. I dropped my left knee just a centimeter and hit the hurdle so hard, it felt like it had been hit with a baseball bat. And then I had to finish that race with that pain. The pain wasn’t so bad; it was the numbness in my leg.

MR: Would you have dropped out if it wasn’t such a high profile race? It’s the Olympics.
AF: I’ve only dropped out of one race in my entire life. It was a cross country race in February of 2004, going into the Olympic Trials. I was just getting over an injury, and the course was covered in ice. It was aggravating the injury I was just getting over, so I stopped so I could stay healthy for my race. That’s the only race I’ve ever dropped out of.

I almost dropped out of a race in Louisville, [the] Papa John’s [10-miler]. I had such a bad side stitch after just one mile of the race; I wanted to stop so badly. I pushed on through the second mile, and I hurt even worse the second mile. And then the third mile… you want to keep on going despite the pain, take it on as a challenge, but at three miles, I hurt so bad I had to sit down. I sat down; looking at the ground and watching guys go by. Like 25 guys go by and I said “I can’t...oh hell..” [laughs], and I jump back in the race. I went from 25th place to 8th place in that race; I fought my way back up. Just because, for me, it’s the principle of not letting myself stop, not letting myself quit because of pain. I don’t know; I couldn’t let myself drop out.

But I think that lends itself to races afterwards, when things aren’t going well, then when everything goes right, like it did with my 10,000 meters, you can go so much harder. With a mile to go [in his recent 10,000]...I think I ran 4:17 for my last mile. It didn’t feel like it. I ran 59 [seconds] for my last 400. With six laps to go in that 10,000 meters, I wanted to catch up to [Dathan Ritzenhein] and Alan Webb, but I’d never run the event before on the track, and I afraid that with three laps to go or two laps to go I’d get dead legs. I just didn’t know.

MR: It was uncharted territory.
AF: Yeah, I didn’t know when it would start hurting. With 800 to go I said [laughs], “I guess it’s never going to come.” If I had run 65[-second laps] for 27:30, I’d have won that race, but it was my first time out. But I think going through what I did with that 10-miler, with that pain, and pushing through it for seven miles...It was really hot that day, really humid, conditions were really hot, and I withstood that pain when everything was going wrong. The 10K was 50° F, no wind, perfect temperatures; perfect guys in the race—guys to go out with. I ran the last 5K by myself, which wasn’t so great, but everything else was great.

I guess to get back on topic, I always knew I could run a great 5K or 10K, but I never really had the opportunity. There was always a steeplechase coming up. I’d do a 5K every couple of years, but never really going out and training for a long-distance race, altitude training for 10,000 [meters]. You can do [altitude training] for mid distances, but it’s really for 10,000 meters and up. I went there for the 10,000 meters, and I didn't change any of my training. I did 55 to 60 miles per week on average, probably closer to 65 miles a week while I was up there, and then came down and ran that 10,000 meters. I knew I had the ability to do this for years.

I had gone to my coach [George Watts]; I said, “I’m tired of not running what I think I can run in the steeplechase. It’s keeping me from running to my full potential. No matter how much I run the event, I keep running into a brick wall. I keep running 8:19, 8:20. I’m much fitter than that, I know I am.” He said, “I know you are, too. I’ve seen your workouts.” I said, “Why don’t we train specifically for a 5000 meters and see what I can do? I think I can run in the 13:teens, well under 13:20.” He said, “I think you can, too, but I think you’d be better off running a 10,000. It would be a better base for you for the steeplechase. You could run a good 10K and then run some good 5Ks afterwards and still run a fast 5K.”

I said I never wanted to run a 10K on the track. I vowed in 1998 that I was never going to do the event. He said, “Why?”, and I said I never want to run 20-some-odd laps on the track, staring at the ground. It’s just not what I want to do. He said, “Look, just give it a shot. You never have to run a 10K again. See what you can do.” I said, “Allright, what’s Todd Williams's PR for 10,000 meters?”

MR: Hah!
AF: Well, Todd Williams went to Tennessee. [Watts] coached Todd for a little while.

MR: Did you train with Todd at all?
AF: I did train with Todd. For one-and-a-half to two years, I trained and worked out with him, paced some workouts for him. I think that’s what made me better, by a lot—having a role model like Todd. Kids will come up to me when I’m giving a lecture at a high school, and one of the questions they’ve asked is, “What was it that made you transition from the collegiate level to the professional level and be able to compete with some of these guys?” I’ve said, “Well, I’ve watched Todd Williams work out, and watched the way he would attack workouts.” The world could end while Todd’s doing a workout, and he doesn’t care. He’s going to finish that interval in whatever time he wants to run the interval in, and he’s going to be right on the money.

It was having a role model like that—not telling me what to do, not explaining things to you, but just physically doing it in front of you for you to see. To learn how to work out that way, to learn how to be aggressive, that to me was the biggest part of that transition. I went from 8:42 at the beginning of my senior year in the steeplechase to 8:25, and that was the year I was working out with Todd. I carried that over into my professional career. So, whenever I challenge myself, Todd’s the benchmark. So I said, “Allright, 27:32." [Famiglietti was misinformed. Williams's PR is 27:31.] If I’m going to run it, I’m going to try to run a 27:32; that was the goal.

Once I got up to altitude, I was kind of having some problems with training. I couldn’t handle the higher mileage, obviously. I was running 65 miles instead of 80. So my coach said, “Think of running 27:40.” So I ran a perfect race for 27:40, up until I ran a 59 last lap. I think I could have gone under 27:30. That’s what makes me think I should be running the 10K—not that I had such a good race, and that I ran fast, but that I finished and had so much energy left over. I never started hurting in the race at any point, even when I ran the 59. Normally, at the end of a race, I fall to my knees and stay there for a few seconds. I ran a 59 and I was pumping my fist in the air [laughs]. It kind of dawned on me that this has probably been my event all along, and I’ve been spinning my wheels in the steeplechase, kind of wasting time.

MR: What is it about the steeplechase that’s kept you so engaged for so long? Was it something that right off the bat you felt, “Okay, I’m naturally good at this?” Or is it something about the event itself? You’ve talked about the 10K being boring, being so many laps.
AF: I’ve never been a fan of running, ever! There are certain types of people that are fans of track and field and running. I’ve never been a fan of track and field and running. So those running events, a lot of them don’t appeal to me at all. My background was skateboarding. When I was younger, I wanted to be a pro skateboarder. I took that to a level where, you either dedicate yourself to do it and take it to the next level, or you quit. I kept getting hurt really bad—I had a bad concussion, hit my head a lot, got lots of stitches in my head, had a compound fracture in my arm. I nearly knocked myself out. I got to a point where I was doing higher-level tricks and I was really going to start getting hurt. My parents didn’t have the greatest insurance, so they took my boards away and made me stop. I was wrestling—I used to do that in junior high school at the same time, it was the only thing they’d let me do. I was only 90 pounds, and I would win a lot by default because no one else was 90 pounds; no one would show up for me to wrestle. My arm was broken; I couldn’t wrestle. They took my boards away; I couldn’t skate.

My teacher, who knew I was a good athlete, told me to come out for the cross country team. I was hesitant to do that, but I decided to do it. I came out, and pretty quickly, I was the best guy on the team. It wasn’t the sport that kept me in it. It wasn’t the running. It was the winning and the realizing of my potential and just wanting to see what I could do. Once I started testing myself against better guys, and seeing that I could move up, that’s what kept me going in the sport. Once you get to the college level, the guys are really good, and you’re going to have to work really hard to get to their level. And I did, I made some really big jumps, but I wasn’t interested in any of the events at a track meet. I kind of wanted to do the mile or 5000-meters, but once I saw the steeplechase… there’s no steeplechase in New York state high schools. So, the first time I saw the steeplechase, I fell in love with it. I said, “Man, look it! This guy just wiped out really bad, that was awesome!” It just drew me in. It’s aggressive, really aggressive. Anything can happen. Bad things are supposed to happen, and you’re supposed to be able to deal with it. To me, it was the ultimate test. There is no more difficult event than the steeplechase, and I can tell you that first-hand. Like I said, I can run so much faster at other events. The steeplechase is like going through a gauntlet. It’s just crazy.

MR: Do you feel like you’re giving up by switching events? Do you grapple with that?
AF: That’s the one reason right now that I don’t just go ahead and say I’m running the 10,000, because I would be giving up. I know I can run the American record in the steeplechase. My workouts translate to that sub-8:09. My speed in the mile...I’m going to do the mile at [the Reebok Grand Prix on June 3 in New York City]. I have expectations of running 3:52 or better with the way that race is structured, with Alan Webb and some other guys. They’re going to go out sub-3:50. If I run what I know I can run in the mile, it translates to a fast steeplechase.

If you look at some of the best steeplechasers, Henry Marsh, Mark Croghan, my times comparatively, overall, are as good as theirs or better. I know I have the ability to do it. My hurdling ability is pretty close to Mark Croghan’s; I wouldn’t say as good, but I have stronger points. I hurdle with both legs, whereas he only hurdles with one. My water jump is pretty good. When it comes to pushing past that next level, I’m just hitting this brick wall. If I were to switch over to the 10,000 meters, even if I ran the American record in the 10K, I’d feel like I’d given up.

I’m not a quitter. I’ll keep fighting as long as I can. I’ve always kept in the back of my mind, “What if I get hurt trying to run the American record in the steeplechase, and I blow my chances at running an American record in the 10K, or helping push some other guys to the American record in the 10K?” Or not reaching my potential in the mile because I got hurt. When I sprained my ankle last weekend, it came to the front of my mind. I said, “ What if it was a break? What if I didn’t get over it in two days?” All that missed time. That’s definitely going to affect my decision.

But I’ll tell you right now, like I said, when I started out, I wasn’t a fan of the sport. To run a fast time just for the sake of running a fast time is not something that appeals to me. The steeplechase still has that draw for me, and if I have to break my leg trying, I will. That was what was going through my mind in Athens. I hit the hurdle so hard, I thought I broke my kneecap. I thought, “Good!” [Laughs] “Deal with it! Finish! If you finish, then we’ll talk.” I finished the race and moved back to eighth. I went from second place to last to eighth. I can’t even tell you the pain of landing on that knee coming over the water jump, all that force. Every time I came over and felt that pain, it was like a rush of adrenaline. It made me want to keep going even more.

I don’t think I’d be 100 percent disappointed if I got hurt running the steeplechase and couldn’t run again. I don’t know when I’ll make that decision. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

MR: Given that this interview started at a gallery show of Basquiat’s work, I have to ask you about this tattoo running down your arm that reads “Plush/Safe He Think—Samo.” Samo was Basquiat’s “tag” and it stood for “same old shit.” That could be read as a statement of resignation, but for him it seems it was more a rallying cry. What is the significance for you?
AF: I am a big fan of Basquiat. He was a fantastic painter, but also an artist and poet with great insight into life in American society. My tattoo is originally taken from graffiti he used to tag around Soho in New York City in the early ’80s under the name Samo. The meaning of it is open to individual interpretation.

I personally have my own interpretation. For me, it has more to do with American ideals and the current contemporary mindset. Success these days seems to be measured in dollars and cents. Great emphasis is put on material wealth and lifestyle. For instance, when people ask me what I do for a career, and I tell them I'm an athlete, the first question out of their mouths is, “How much money do you make?” Too often on television the ideal image is of someone driving a Rolls Royce, covered in diamonds, getting into exclusive parties, signing autographs and then returning home to their enormous mansion by the lake, impervious to everything. “Plush/Safe He Think” is somewhat of a commentary on that. To say: that you may have the Rolls, you may have the diamonds and even the house, but if that mansion is in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina can flood that lake and take it all back. You'll have nothing; you're left with who you are. How do you measure your success then?

Editor's Update: Famiglietti took third place in the Healthy Kidney, with a time of 28:40. To read the Healthy Kidney race story, click here.

Interview conducted May 12, 2006, and posted May 18, 2006.