Foot Locker Q&A: 1999 champion Victoria Chang

By Ian Tsang for DyeStat

For nearly 20 years Victoria Chang’s name has been etched in the Hawaii state record books for her track times in the 1,500 metetrs and 3,000. 

Of course, that's not what she's best known for. In 1999, after winning her first Hawaii state cross country title after three runner-up finishes, Chang flew to Mt. SAC in California for Foot Locker West because some of her friends wanted to do it. She placed third and qualified for a chance to fly even farther east, to Disney World in Orland, Fla. After going back home for three days, she re-packed and flew to Florida to race the best runners in the country. She went to the starting line unsure of how she could do. After all, her weekly mileage was reportedly 20 per week. And yet, she won the girls championship with a course record time of 17:05.8. She took the lead with 400 meters to go and sprinted away from the field.  

The eight-time state champion spent two years at Stanford and two more at the University of of Hawaii. Her exceptional work earned her two trips to NCAAs (once as a team and once as an individual.) 

Here is recent Q&A with Hawaii's lone Foot Locker champion. Today she lives a quiet, private life and is a wife and mother in Honolulu.

Question: How did you get into running?

VC: Through my dad. He used to run in school and did many marathons over the years and always enjoyed it. As a kid I didn’t like to run and hated sports, but my dad used to take me to the park to run. It wasn’t until the seventh grade that I started to do track. I stuck to the shorter distances, becoming a sprinter. Tthe 800 was my longest race. And when I moved up to high school I started to shift to the distance events.

Question: What were some workouts and things your coach had you do in high school that got you to the level where you were able to take on the country?

VC: I can’t really specify because I don’t remember, but it was a combination of everything. I spent a lot of time cross training, so my program was filled with swimming, regular runs, and weights. For part of my running career in high school after I switched from Iolani to Punahou, I was coached by the boys coach (Dacre Bowen) and then coach Duncan MacDonald for two years, who kept me on a low mileage program. It wasn’t until college that I started to run high mileage.

Question: What motivated you to become an elite runner and take your career to the collegiate level?

VC: A lot happened in high school. My dad used to enter me into races on the mainland. There was one in Texas he took me to, I think it was a qualifying race for something. But once I started to see how I could do, that was what motivated me. It was a way to run in Hawaii and travel to the mainland, and it was a way to get into college. I just wanted to see how far I could go with it.

Question: What are your fondest memories from Foot Locker (Regionals and Nationals?)

VC: Well first I had to qualify at the West regional competition, which was held at Mt. SAC. From there, I went to Florida for nationals. It was a really great experience for me to meet an amazing group of runners that I kept in contact with even during college. I was able to see the caliber of these athletes from the mainland and how it was entirely different than in Hawaii.

Question: What did it mean to you that you were able to win the national title being from Hawaii, and not necessarily having the same amount of competition during the season?

VC: I agree. We are quite removed from the mainland. Just for (other girls) to advance to that point they had to go through many more (competitive) meets than I did. But it was great to know that even though we aren’t as large in Hawaii, we could still compete on that same level in the end. I’m glad that I was able to inspire people to try it and go to the mainland because it is quite different to race over there.

Question: It has been quite a while since then. How much pride do you still take in being the Foot Locker champion for that year?

VC: Well I won nationals in 1999, and while it is my name and I was there, it wasn’t just me who won that race, so I can’t really take credit for it. When I look back on all that I accomplished it was really my dad, my brother, and all of my coaches that got me there. It was through their encouragement that I even started running and wanted to pursue it to the next level. So, yes, it is my name there when people look back on it, but I don’t feel comfortable taking credit for it because it wasn’t entirely done by myself.

Question: What happened in your running career after you went to college?

VC: I ran at Stanford for my freshman and sophomore NCAA eligibility. It was a very big change to shift from low to high mileage. Personally, I still don’t know if that was a good thing for me. I did cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field, but I’d have to say that my best year was when I was a freshman. I liked my coaches a lot, but I don’t know if their program was right for me. In college, the program takes runners from across the country and puts them under one coach. So I don’t know how well every runner will be able to adapt the same way and have it work out (for everyone). For me, it was a challenge to get used to that because every coach has a different style. 

After that I transferred to UH-Manoa to run and it was this year when I was a junior that I qualified for NCAA nationals for the second time (the first was as a freshman at Stanford, when the team placed third.) I went as an individual because the rest of my team didn’t make it.

Question: To get to the level you achieved while being in the isolation of Hawaii, do you believe that you had to put in more work than runners from the mainland just to get to the same level?

VC: Personally I don’t think I had to put in more work than them. It could be because I didn’t really have any specific goals set. If I wanted to run for time, I’d run for time. If I wanted to run for place, then I ran for place, but I trained to my own degree. To me, it didn’t matter what they were doing because I was doing my own thing and just seeing how far I could go. When I ran back then I didn’t think about it, I just ran.

Question: Could you have turned professional as a runner? Do you still run? 

VC: I stopped running competitively when I went to law school, and I didn’t have a desire to turn pro. I think it was because I knew that it would end and would (not last). Now when I run it is only for fun. I don’t even do road races. I don’t run with friends. And I only do it when I have time. I still enjoy it as much though because it is a way for me to be myself and think about things.

Question: Have you ever considered coaching?

VC: I did try it before. But between my job and my family I found no time to do it. I don’t think that I’ll try it again any time soon, but maybe when my son starts to get into sports I will.

Question: Do you think the things you achieved were due to talent or hard work?

VC:  I’m not really sure, actually. It could have been a mixture of both. I don’t want to take credit for it all because everyone helped me, but I definitely put in the work.