Fighting Illini senior Angela Bizzarri has done it all in the NCAA. She's won indoor titles, outdoor titles and, this past fall, took the cross country title from a stacked field of runners. With the completion of her NCAA career in her sights, Bizzarri is looking past this outdoor season and wants to continue running and bettering 5,000-meter running. With a 15 minute, 33.02 second personal-best time, you can bet we'll see that time bettered time and time again!

Sunday! Did you get your long run in?

Yes! Sundays are my long run days! I did an 11-mile long run today. I usually do 11, 12 or 13. I took it a little bit down. Pretty typical long run for me.

How many races do you have left in your NCAA career? Less than half a dozen?

Definitely! Definitely less than that.

With such a decorated career, what are you setting for goals for your last NCAA season?

It's always really hard because there are so many good competitors in the NCAA. I basically think about it like, “as long as I go out and compete well. I'm confident in my fitness and I know it will be a positive experience.” I know that's really general. I hate saying that someone is going to win because there are so many talented people out there.

If I don't push you about the victory...how about a time? Do you have a time goal in mind?

I feel like time is always difficult in championship-style races because you're trying to win and not exactly run fast. I think that's harder to predict than who's going to win.

Do you have any fast races coming up?

Yeah, I've got Big 10s next weekend and conference is always a competitive meet and it's fun to do well. I'm gearing towards that. It's always competitive in the longer distances. They have some tough competitors, so I guess that's a bigger meet before NCAAs.

With the end of your college career being this close, do you have anything lined up for after NCAAs?

I'm not sure exactly. I'd like to do a few more races. It's kind of depending on how I feel at the end of season and if I feel content with what I've run or if I'm burnt out or anything. I'm leaving that up in the air...but I want to keep competing hopefully for the next few years.

Are you going into grad school immediately or are you holding off on that?

Actually, yeah, I've got one more semester to finish up and finish my undergraduate degree. I'll be at the U of I in the fall, so no set plans for grad school after that. I know at some point in time I'd love to go into health care. I know to go into that I'd have to go to graduate school. I'd like to try running before that.

What's your undergrad degree going to be in?

I'm getting my degree in molecular and cellular biology.

Wow.

(Laughs) I know! It's such a long—I hate saying that name because it sounds so silly. They could have shortened it to “cell biology” to make it better.

Wait. Can you give me the name again?

I know! It's so unnecessary. They should have shortened it. It's molecular and cellular biology.

What's the dream job to come out of studying that?

A lot of people go to med school after that, but I don't think I want to go through that much more school, however, I'd like to go into the health care field. I'm looking at physician's assistant and will start looking at that again at some point in time...in my life.

I remember voting for you online, but how did the Sullivan Award end up? Did they end up going for the ultra-marathoner?

Oh, yeah, the ultra-marathoner ended up winning. But I had a pretty good opportunity to go out to New York and it was nice to represent my school with that. It was a really fun experience. They took you into the heart of New York and put together a really nice award ceremony. It was fun. I got to meet a lot of athletes from different sports that I didn't know about. I really enjoyed learning about the different sports and learning about the different places that people go with athletics. I thought that experience was really cool.

You hung out with a lot of the other athletes? The six other finalists, I assume?

They did a little program where we went to lunch with them and the night before, I wasn't available, but they also got together. We got to chat with the other participants. I really enjoyed that time and getting to know those athletes from completely different sports. One of the girls was from the luge and I didn't know anything about it and ended up learning a ton about it. I've got to open my eyes to all the sports they have out there!

You're a newly-christened luge fan? You're going to be following the sport for years to come?

I will definitely watch luge! For sure!

This might sound a little weird to you—because I don't know how award ceremonies work—but did you know the results going to the ceremony?

No! I had no clue! It is not predetermined! You don't know what's going on.

Were you nervous?

I guess I was nervous. For me, personally, I was more nervous about having to go up and talk afterwards if I won. (Laughs) For me, that was more nerve-wracking than anything else. It's different. I wasn't upset or anything with so many good athletes. I enjoyed being there. It wasn't a negative situation.

Was there a little bit of relief for you that you didn't win—not having to go up and make an impromptu speech?

I don't want to say that...but I don't love speeches. It was like, “Oh, goodness! Thanks. Now I don't have to say anything!” That sounds bad, but...I did enjoy the experience!

With that kind of difficult program you're in...with four names...you must have to give speeches all the time!

No! Never! That's why I do it. I just have to take tests. I can do the test part...it's just the speaking.

Were you scribbling something out in case you had to speak, trying to remember all the people to thank?

I was just going to wing it. It was an interesting experience that I haven't been in before.

With your athletic accolades and your accomplishments in academics, is it hard to balance it all?

I feel like a lot of track and cross country athletes do really well in school and academics. I feel like it takes a lot of dedication to do both. I've learned time management and self-discipline through running and it kind of transfers over to school sometimes. With hours and planning, I've always planned it that I always have a small enough class load and I'm not really stressed out for training purposes.

When you do get that elusive free time, what are you doing for fun?

I go out and eat a lot and hang out. We all live in a similar area, so it's nice. I live in an apartment and I've got teammates next door and teammates all in the same area. It's easy to go and visit everyone and hang out.

Can you share your mileage and do you mind breaking down a typical week of training for you?

I run six days a week and take one day off. I run about—and I think my high this season has been 54—around 50. I have two workouts a week. A long run, a medium long run and then two easy runs.

Does the day off usually bounce around or is it typically on Thursday or something?

It usually pretty set. I usually take Saturdays off. It obviously changes if I race on Saturday. Our schedule changes around depending a lot on which day we're racing. If we're racing on Saturday, I'll take Sunday off and do my long run on Monday. Generally the set up of the week stays the same, but it might move forward or back a day.

It seems pretty flexible.

It does get pretty flexible. It's about the day you're racing, so you always have a day to recover for the workout coming up.

As I was looking through your results, I was unable to find a 10,000-meter race. Have you ever raced a 10K?

No, I've never run a competitive 10K. I've really actually hated the idea for the past few years. Maybe in the next few years. I've been thinking I might actually want to run one in the future. We'll see.

Nothing about it appeals to you?

No, no, no. I just came up from the 1,500. My freshman year, I don't think I ran a single 5K in college. After that, my sophomore year, I ran one all alone in Berkeley and then one at our conference. And our conference went really well. So, I decided to continue doing the 5K. That was the year that I got second. At that point, I wasn't really 100% convinced and sold on the 5K. I think it's a slow, gradual increase in distance because I've done so well as I go. I just see myself as still enjoying the shorter distances. I'll talk myself into moving up.

Were you a hard sell for that first 5K?

I'd say it took a few good experiences for it to happen. I ran really well in the Big 10 Championships in the 5K, my sophomore year. I wasn't really sure if I was going to run the 15 or 5K at NCAAs that year. I ended up getting second as a huge surprise. After that, I was definitely sold on the 5K. I just never realized my potential or realized that I could do really well at it until that point.

All right. I pressed you a little bit earlier at this...but I'm going to try again: long term in the 5K, what kind of time goals do you have in mind?

I think every athlete has certain barriers that they want to break. I guess after my sophomore year, it was breaking like 15:37—which is exactly five-minute pace for the 5K. I thought that would be really cool. I did that my junior year and ran 15:33. I have to set a new goal. I think definitely it would be awesome to break 15 and all that, but I think that's a quite a few years down the road. That's quite a time and would be awesome.

What about dropping back down and being a 1,500-meter runner?

(Laughs) I don't know. I feel like whenever I run the 15, I end up getting outkicked and getting really frustrated by it. I prefer the 15 that I can have the kick.

This all means that your comfort zone in in the 5K?

My comfort zone is definitely in the 5K! I think that's because it's been my main focus for the last few years and I've been training for it.

Are you a “pretty big deal” on campus at Illinois?

I don't know! I think football players are a big deal. Basketball players are a big deal! I think the community as a whole is really supportive. I get some older track and field alumni. I've gotten some really nice emails and messages just being really supportive. I feel like there's a lot of support for Illinois athletics in general. I guess sometimes I meet someone who's like, “oh, you run track and field!” And I'm like, “oh, yeah I do.” They're huge Illini fans. I'd say not on campus, maybe the larger Illini fans. They might have heard of my name...but not on campus. No, not at all! (Laughs)

If you could have one meal, prepared by anyone, what would you have and who would make it?

Hmm. I know there's a lot of good food on campus. At the same time, I'm a huge fan of Thanksgiving Day dinner, cooked by my mom. Just because it's a tradition. I'd have to say that. It's not the turkey either. It's the sides! Like corn pudding and green bean casserole! Stuff like that! That stuff reminds me of Thanksgiving and that's always my favorite meal of the year. I associate the sides with Thanksgiving more.

Can you share a crazy running-related story?

On Thursdays we always run on our own. I was running in the ARC, where the Illinois Cross Country Course is. In the far corner of the ARC is a bee farm. I guess the U of I does research on bees and I recently did a paper that had to do with bees...about a month ago. Most of the research was from the U of I. We run by these bee farms a lot. And I've never had any problems until this one day that I was, of course, all alone. I run by and hear this bee and it's stuck in my bun. I'm like, “Oh, my goodness! There's a bee in my hair! What do I do!?” I'm shaking my hair and finally get it out and I'm thankful it's finally gone. I look back and there are two bees. They're following me. I speed up and another one gets in my bun and the other one is following me. I'm freaking out. I'm thinking, “there's a bee hive back there and these bees are going to call all the rest of the bees. I know they use like sonar. These bees are going to all end up chasing me!” I'm taking my bun out. My hair out, next to this super-busy road—which is super-embarrassing. I'm sitting there in spandex and sports bra...ripping out my hair thing, running for my life! I'm going for it and thinking, “there's no way that these bees are going to get me!” There are a few bees following and I'm sprinting for my life for about 1,200 meters. I thought, “I'm a distance runner! I'm going to go for it for a while!” I stop and look back and...they're gone. I stop and think that I'm in this busy street...with my hair down...looking like a crazy lady.

You outkicked bees.

Apparently I did. Apparently I got those bees. I was really mad! There was serious adrenaline going. I was like, “I don't care! I'm beating these bees!”

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