For Lane, the race to save elephants is one she is motivated to win

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Claudia Lane isn’t just a Foot Locker national winner, she is also a global champion for animal rights, most notably elephants.

The Malibu High junior doesn’t just maintain a rhythmic pace while running, she also keeps tempo as an accomplished piano player.

And in addition to being one of the country’s most versatile distance runners, the California state cross country and track champion is also capable of speaking multiple languages, along with learning Swahili this year in preparation for a future trip to Africa to work with elephant conservationists.

For all of her impressive achievements on dirt, grass, concrete and all-weather tracks last year that make her the clear preseason favorite as the nation’s top female performer, Lane’s impact on her school, community, state and country at age 16 reaches far beyond her cross country records and memorable track performances.

“Every parent wants to see their child develop a passion for something, so it’s really gratifying to see not only how much she loves running, but also how committed she is to saving elephants,” said Margo Lane, Claudia’s mother.

“Whether it’s with running or school or elephants or just being a good, kind, loving person, I’m so proud of her on so many levels. We always tell her to be proud of what she’s accomplished, but at the same time to also be humble about it.”

Before she enjoyed one of the most memorable sophomore seasons of any cross country runner in U.S. prep history – becoming just the fifth 10th-grader to win the Foot Locker girls title – Lane founded a school advocacy group at the end of her freshman year called “Every Elephant Matters.”

Inspired by older sister Rowan, now a freshman at the University of Washington, Lane decided to learn more about elephant poaching and the ongoing illegal ivory trade around the world. In the 1950s, several million elephants roamed the earth, but the population has presently been reduced to thousands, mostly in Africa and Asia.

Lane’s purpose in creating the club, which now consists of 14 students, was to inform individuals who are unaware of the negative consequences of poaching or further raise awareness among peers who are familiar in order to save elephants. She estimates at the current rate of poaching due to the excessive hunt for ivory, elephants could be pushed to the brink of extinction.

“It’s scary. I needed to do something and wasn’t going to let this problem slip through my hands,” said Lane, who is hoping to organize a viewing at school this year of the 2016 documentary “The Ivory Game” in order to further educate students.

“If enough people work together and give an honest effort to find ways to raise poaching awareness, the subsequent decrease in demand for ivory will therefore annihilate the desire for poachers to murder elephants. Then, their population could potentially reach normal numbers once again.”

Lane celebrated her 16th birthday in May by organizing a school assembly that hosted African elephant conservationists representing the animal rights group “Stop Poaching Now!” One of the leading conservationists in the movement even Skyped during the assembly from Victoria Falls in southern Africa.

The amount of pride and gratification Lane had following the assembly was on par with any record, championship or award she received in the past 11 months. (To learn more about how to stop elephant poaching or to raise awareness in your community, visit www.savingtusks.org. You can purchase a “Their Tusks, Not Your Ivory” T-shirt or make a donation directly to the S.A.F.E. Campaign, a conservation center in Africa).

“The feelings I had knowing how many people showed up and how many people care and how I felt after the assembly and knowing people want to be educated about this issue made me really happy,” Lane said. “But it touches a different place in my heart than running does.

“After a race, I feel accomplished and I’m proud that I challenged myself, but I think another part of running that kind of relates more to how I felt after the elephant assembly is the team aspect of everything. Things like Foot Locker and Brooks PR and Nike Elite Camp and just being with people who love the same thing that you do and just enjoying it together, I think that’s what makes it really special.”

Finding balance

Although Lane’s accomplishments during the past year were often the topic of social media buzz for several days following a race, it didn’t take her long to move forward following a Friday or Saturday victory and switch her focus away from running.

Whether it is volunteering at a local pet sanctuary by helping veterinarians on Sundays, holding meetings each Monday for “Every Elephant Matters” or finding time to schedule piano lessons during the week, Lane has tried to minimize the stress of running and a tough academic schedule by immersing herself in other activities.

“Just putting so much pressure on yourself can be unhealthy. I think it’s good that I have a few outlets where I can de-stress, like playing piano and volunteering with the animals and keeping my club running. All of it keeps me busy, so I’m not always thinking about running, and it makes me happy too,” Lane said. “The team aspect is my favorite part, because it’s nice to rely on people and having the support of your team just makes it so much more enjoyable. Having my running team and my club makes me happy because I get to communicate with people and it makes it a lot more fun.”

Lane has even discovered another outlet during her day, offsetting the demands of one honors and two advanced placement courses by concluding her schedule with a creative writing class.   

“From a parental point of view, you’re just happy that your kid is focused and engaged. We’re not hover parents at all. We’re just happy that she’s happy. The more we stay out of the way and let her experience this, the happier we are with it,” said Rock Lane, Claudia’s father.

“She’s the happiest when she’s running, but she feels compassion for animals because it takes her outside of herself, I guess that’s the best way to describe it. Just like with anything in life, it’s about creating a balance.”

That balance has also extended to Lane’s workouts during the summer. Having never cross-trained before, Lane regularly switches up her schedule now to incorporate pool sessions, often swimming up to 100 laps.

“I swam a lot over the summer and it’s really helped build up my cardiovascular system,” Lane said. “Swimming is good because it’s non-impact, which prevents stress fractures and it’s just another way of helping me train smarter. I know that upperclassmen can often get burnt out and I don’t want that to happen. I want to stay healthy and swimming helps me train smarter. Mentally, it’s something I have to think about. Even if I don’t run 70 miles a week, I can still be in shape. I’ll be happy and healthy, and most important, I’ll be mentally stable.”

Lessons learned

Despite racing 14 times in 15 weeks during her historic cross country season, Lane demonstrated she still had enough energy left Dec. 10 to pull away from Leesville Road NC standout Nevada Mareno in the final 800 meters of the 5-kilometer race at Balboa Park’s Morley Field in San Diego to clock 17:04.8 and win the Foot Locker national title by 3.5 seconds.

“I still felt strong, but after the race I was like ‘Man, I need a break.’ This year, hopefully taking the training a little easier and a little smarter at the beginning of the season will help me later on,” Lane said. “At state is where I felt the strongest. I felt great. I felt like I could run forever. At Foot Locker West, it was a really fun race, but I pushed myself that day. I was a little sore, but I was like, ‘It’s one more week, I can get through this.’”

When Lane opened her season by running 16:25 on the 3-mile course at the Seaside Invitational and then followed that effort by clocking 16:16 on another 3-mile layout at the Woodbridge Classic, those performances helped her embark on a journey she could have never envisioned reaching its destination as the eighth California female to win a Foot Locker national title.

“Last year at the beginning of the year, to be honest, I didn’t know what I was doing, I kind of just went out and raced. I wasn’t really aware of how careful you have to be when running and how smart you have to be with your training,” Lane said. “Seeing how I raced and how I felt after races last season is going to give us a good baseline for this year to see what I should do differently and what I should keep the same.”

Lane’s passion for training and competing only grew throughout the cross country season and continued as she gained more wisdom and maturity during the spring track schedule.

“She’s always been hyper-focused when she finds something that she loves,” Rock Lane said. “As the season went along, we saw her drive increase and her focus on putting in the mileage and staying healthy and eating differently and completely immersing herself in the running culture, and that was really exciting.

“Watching her win Foot Locker was so emotional and that emotion was just feeling so proud that she would put herself out there like that at 15 years old.”

In addition to her strength running hills and underrated closing speed, perhaps the biggest asset for Lane entering this year is experience, possessing a greater understanding of course layouts and competition.

“I’m not going to try to kill myself in all the races,” Lane said. “I’m not going to try to break my times from every meet because if I were to do that, I would feel so much pressure. I think it’s important to challenge yourself and I love to challenge myself, but I think if every single race I was trying to PR and I was trying to break 16 (minutes), it would just be too much and at that point, I think I would burn out.

“I do want to improve my times, but in the right way, with the right approach. Knowing that the postseason is the most important time and finals are still more than two months away, if I need to wait until then to PR and break those times, then that’s OK.”

As the entire Lane family learned last year, it’s important to celebrate every moment from Malibu to Mt. SAC to Woodward Park to Balboa Park, appreciating each step along the way.

“It’s exciting, but it’s also exhausting. Going through cross country and track, it’s a long year,” Rock Lane said. “Margo and I are aligned in terms of this year that we just want her to enjoy it like she did last year because last year was a discovery.”

That breakthrough has presented one of the most gifted young runners in California history with an opportunity to join Erin Sullivan of Mount Mansfield VT (1997-98), Melody Fairchild of Boulder CO (1989-90) and Erin Keogh of Langley VA (1985-86) as a potential repeat Foot Locker national champion.

“I definitely gained a lot of knowledge during last cross country season and track season, like what it means to be a runner and how to take care of your body,” Lane said. “Something that’s changed the most is I’ve learned more about nutrition and more about how to train properly and I think it’s given me a better idea of what it really means to be a high school athlete and how to juggle that with everything that’s going on in my life.”