Ann Gaffigan has been running since she was 8 years old, sprinting the first half mile of the Women’s Distance Festival 2-Mile Road Race in Springfield, IL, and then slowing to a walk. Her mother Christine refused to let her quit, and they came in last behind all of the walkers and mothers with strollers.
Since then, Ann has learned a great deal about track and field. She was a 2-time State Champion in the 3200m and won the Cross-Country State Championship her junior year in high school. She then went on the compete for the University of Nebraska, where she was one of the school’s first female steeplechasers and still holds the school record in the 3000m steeplechase – 9:39.35. That time, when run at the 2004 Olympic Trials as an exhibition event, gave Ann her first National Championship and American Record.
Ann competed professionally through the 2008 Olympic Trials, while helping coach the Nebraska distance squad, in hopes of making the US team for the first Olympics to hold the women’s steeplechase. Though she did not make the team, she is still an advocate for women in sport, specifically the women’s steeplechase, through her site SteepleChics.com, which she started in January 2005 with Dr. James Fields in order to provide a resource of information on the event and it’s domestic and international results and participants. In February 2009, Ann co-founded WomenTalkSports.com with Jane Schonberger and Megan Hueter in order to form the first online network of sites related to women in sport. With now over 100 members and growing, the site has become the #1 resource of news, information and opinion on women’s sports.
A computer programmer by trade, Ann has run her own business, Gazelle Incorporated, since the fall of 2004 and serves about 20 clients, including several state high school sports associations. She currently resides in Southern California with her husband Jason and daughter Jaelyn, who was born in May 2009. Ann is heavily involved in her local Girls, Inc. chapter, Girls Inc. of Orange County and is teaching a sports and fitness class at their summer program starting in June 2010. She is also the 3000m-10,000m Event Leader for the USA Track & Field Athletes Advisory Committee as well as the Treasurer for the Track & Field Athletes Association.
It has always been a dream of Ann’s to work with young track and field athletes and help cultivate their dreams and encourage them to work hard and strive for their highest potential. She believes being an athlete has helped shape the person she is today and credits the experience with helping her build confidence and become a leader.
