The Beginning
Photo courtesy of Brooks Running
Photo courtesy of Victor Sailer for Brooks Running
2017 USA Outdoors
Drew Windle might not live in New Albany anymore, but as the son of two New Albany High School graduates, and because he was born and raised here, New Albany will always be home.
A natural athlete, Windle got involved in football and baseball at a young age. He always envisioned himself as a professional baseball or football player, but was disappointed when he was cut from the baseball team in eighth grade. With the spring season free, NAHS track and field coach Amy Glenn saw an opportunity.
“She kind of pushed me into the track and field world,” says Windle. “I just started running.”
And, as it turns out, he had a talent for running. He still holds three NAHS records for the 800-meter and 4x4 and 4x8 relays. He went on to run at Ashland University, where he studied history. Windle smashed a 42-year-old record for the 800-meter at Ashland, running it in 1:46.91 outdoors. After running his indoor personal best of 1:46.50 on the 800, he began thinking he could go pro.
“Right as I crossed the finish line, it dawned on me, that’s getting really close to a world-class time,” says Windle.
That’s when he began looking for sponsorship opportunities. One team that caught his eye was Seattle-based Brooks Beasts. He remembers being home on break during his sophomore year at Ashland, watching a Brooks video with his mother. If he were to go pro with any team, he thought, this would be his pick. Just a few years later, the stars aligned.
“I was sitting in night class my senior year in the fall, and the head coach of the Brooks, Danny Mackey, slid into my Twitter (direct messages) and asked me for my email and phone number,” Windle says. “I lost it. I was freaking out. It was something that I’d wanted to happen for a few years, and it was really cool to have that coach reach out to me.”
Going Pro
Windle graduated from Ashland in 2015, and packed up for Seattle. His personal best in the 800-meter is now 1:44.63; the U.S. record sits just seconds away at 1:42.60. He is ranked No. 15 in the world in the 800-meter, and No. 3 in the U.S. In hindsight, getting cut from the baseball team in eighth grade doesn’t seem too bad.
No matter how many records he breaks or how much time he shaves off his personal record, Windle still makes time to come back to central Ohio. His parents, Karen and Kenny, have moved out of New Albany, but Karen still spends plenty of time there as an intervention specialist at New Albany-Plain Local Schools. And every time Windle comes back, he tries to head into New Albany. Just last December during his winter break, he even fit in some time to run with former NAHS teammates and hit the high school track for a few workouts.
Team #RunLiketheWindle
Photo courtesy of Brooks Running
Windle has felt tremendous community support, but his biggest fans come from his family. His parents and siblings, Heidi, Kaleigh and Kyle, are always there to cheer him on. At Ashland, he says, his parents missed just one track meet when Windle’s nephew was being born. Leading the pack, however, is Mom.
“My mom is, like, super mom. She’s hands down my No. 1 fan,” Windle says. “I always have old teachers commenting on race videos that she posts online. It’s just nice that these people, who had a lot of impact on me in my formative years, still care.”
Windle isn’t stopping at that 1:44.63 time; New Albany and the U.S. can still expect more from him. Last year, he qualified for the U.S. team in the world championship, which has the same qualifications as the U.S. Olympic team. As expected, Windle still has his sights on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It won’t be a breeze, however, as Windle will have to rank in the top three in the country.
I was sitting in night class my senior year in the fall, and the head coach of the Brooks, Danny Mackey, slid into my Twitter (direct messages) and asked me for my email and phone number. ... I lost it. I was freaking out.
“I’ve done what I need to do to make the Olympic team,” says Windle. “The U.S. team is so deep and talented, it’s one of the hardest teams to make, so it’s not a given to make that team.”
Windle’s ultimate goal is to come back to central Ohio and coach at The Ohio State University. The support and experience he gained here is hard to overstate.
“Every coach I had growing up, whether it was football, baseball, whatever I was doing, even in the classroom, New Albany is pretty competitive,” he says. “If you want to get noticed or be good at something, you have to really work hard for it.”
Fit Five with Amanda DePerro
Drew Windle shares his wellness habits
1) Are there any foods you try to avoid or emphasize?
As a professional athlete, I have to pay a lot of attention to what I eat. When I’m in my base training phase I eat, for the most part, how I want to eat. I won’t shy away from pizza or dessert, or going out for a few drinks with friends. However, once the competitive season gets closer, I keep a food diary. I try to get good sources of fat, carbohydrates and protein. There is a lot of avocado, pancakes, chicken and steak.
2) What are your favorite ways to stay active?
Obviously, I enjoy running, but my favorite parts of my job are workouts, weightlifting and doing long runs. Our workouts are usually pretty intense, and there is a great sense of accomplishment when you execute a solid workout. I enjoy weightlifting, because it is not something I think people associate with distance running. It’s actually a major component to being successful, and it allows me to return to my high school football days in the weight room. Long runs are awesome because I meet up with 10-15 of my good friends and training partners and run for about 90 minutes. I enjoy this because running for that long would be boring without conversation, and when you spend that much time running, the conversations go to some interesting places where you learn a lot about the people you’re with.
3) What do you do to relax?
One of the most important aspects of training is recovery, so over the last three years, I’ve gotten pretty good at recovering. I enjoy playing video games such as Madden, FIFA and Minecraft. I also binge watch Netflix shows such as The Office, New Girl and Peaky Blinders. When I want to do something a little more mentally engaging, I try to learn Spanish or German, or go into my garage and do some woodworking.
4) As a professional athlete, you’re “forced,” in a sense, to stay physically fit, but how do you stay mentally fit, too, and prevent burnout?
This is one of the biggest changes from high school and college running to professional running. In high school and college, you have academics and social events to balance the demands from running, which helps avoid burnout. One of the hardest parts of being a pro is figuring out when and how to turn the switch to be competitive and dedicated and when to turn it off. I take my offseason pretty off. I usually don’t run a step for four weeks, and even in the early parts of training, I take a very relaxed approach. I eat how I want to eat, I stay up late, I spend time hiking the Pacific Northwest, and going out for drinks with friends.
When the time comes to be a little more serious, I flip that switch, and mentally, I’m fresh and get back into good fitness pretty quickly. I feel like this method allows me to get to 90 percent fitness, and then clean up the last 10 percent to get into top form.
5) Do you have any rituals before big events, such as eating specific meals or listening to a particular song?
My pre-race routine is the same for every race. I start the morning with a solid breakfast and a shakeout jog for about 10 minutes. Then I relax for a little bit, take a shower and put my race uniform together. About four hours out from my race, I have my final meal, which is chocolate chip pancakes and maple syrup accompanied with 32 oz. of Red Bull. Once I’m two hours from the start of my race, I head to the track to get prepared. Seventy minutes from the gun, I start my warmup, which consists of some activation drills, a 15-minute jog, and some dynamic drills and strides. Then it’s time to race!
Amanda DePerro is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at adeperro@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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