Annie Lydens is one of those people who has got her act together. So it’s not such a big surprise that, come Friday, Annie will be on her way to Oregon to race in the NCAA West Regional Championship meet. And although the rest of the team will not be yelling “mean cheers” from the sidelines, covered in body paint and dressed out in blue and orange, Annie will be in each runner’s thoughts. Cassandra Owen PO ’14 said it best: Lydens’ “studly” persona has reminded the team that hard work and the right mindset can not only shape a successful athlete, but build a solid team as well.

I had a chance to speak with some of the runners about Lydens’ contributions to the PPWXC squad this season. There were a few things that really stood out as “typical Annie.” So Annie, if you’re reading this, know that we love you.

Annie Lydens is a natural athlete. A runner, a soccer star, and someone who can make Jai-Alai sexy, Annie’s got it going on. As teammate Kate Brieger PO ’11 put it: Annie “is one of the most talented individuals” whose “passion and tenacity make her an incredible runner.” One of the things that makes her especially talented is her ability to succeed in her sport even in the face of serious injuries. As a freshman, Lydens was hurt midway through the fall semester, cutting what would have been her first cross-country season short. Logging hours on the elliptical, keeping up with the Kardashians, and reading about Tiger’s affairs, Lydens spent the rest of the season and most of spring track workouts cross-training to regain muscle strength. To see someone go straight from the air-conditioned cardio-room to the front of the pack on a fast 800-meter race is, in itself, inspiring. “I love watching Annie run, teammate Hannah McConnell PO ’12 said. “She has long, graceful strides that make running around a track look easy…which, from experience, I know is not an easy thing to do.”

Annie sets the pace for the team in a variety of ways. The favorite among the team is Annie’s “jet-pack.” Long runs ranging anywhere from 50 to 85 minutes can be arduous and boring. Given that the squad runs at what is arguably the toastiest time of day along the same route for what feels like the hundredth time (and very well could be), it is important for the runners to have something to take their minds off the burning in their legs and the salty sweat in their eyes. Just to spice things up, Annie ordered herself a pair of speakers. A couple days later, she showed up on the Rains Center steps with a box and triumphantly held out “the lightest speakers they had!” in her hands. The jet-pack’s inaugural trip consisted of a series of PPWXC classics by Katy P, Rihanna, and Brad Paisley, to name a few. Plugging her iPod into the speaker set and using a roll of athletic tape to strap the contraption around her waist, Annie was a sight to behold, a fact made clear by the looks on the faces of passersby.

“It was motivating to think that the girl alongside me with iPod speakers taped around her stomach was going to win our next meet,” McConnell recounted. Anja “Cap’n” Hughes-Stinson PZ ’11 confided that she didn’t think “anyone could be more motivational than Annie leading the team through the campuses with an iPod taped to her back.” On a team of strong personalities, Annie stands out.

Important in the makeup of an athlete is a balance of fun and focus, positivity and intensity. In a sport where the toughest race is in your mind, Annie honed her mind to focus only on the positive. “I never doubt myself,” she once said, “not ever.” That was just before the SCIAC championship where Lydens came in second and won the award for SCIAC Runner of the Year.

Annie has the credentials to keep up the motivation, to push the pace, and to make sure the rest of the team is staying positive. And she does all that in a way that brings the team together, that engages rather than distances.

Teammate Naomi Wagner PO ’13 said that the most incredible thing about Annie’s talent is not necessarily her physical ability to run fast (although her skills are impressive), but her modesty. “She runs for herself and she runs for the team… not for the bragging rights or SCIAC fame –although she totally earned both.”

Annie Lydens is just one of those people you have to admire. Whether designing accessories for Cambodian women’s cooperatives or dancing to “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” talking philosophy or talking cougar, Annie Lydens brings an understated and powerful energy to the table. Put nicely in PPWXC terms by freshman Dot Silverman, “Annie’s got the fastest legs and the savagest chirp: a deadly combination.”