PennTrackXC is excited to welcome our next guest blogger for this fall: Marlee Starliper of Northern!
Starliper has been solidifying herself over the first three years of her high school career as one of the best distance runners in Pennsylvania state history. Last year, Starliper won her second straight PIAA Class AA state title and she went on to take 13th at Foot Locker Nationals. During the track season, Starliper had a big season, winning the national title in the mile, taking the U20 national win in the 3K, earning a trip to the Pan-American Championships, where she won silver.
Now Starliper enters her senior season with more big goals. She's looking forward to the fall, but in her first journal entry, she looks back on what was a very busy and eventful summer. We're thrilled to have Marlee on board with us throughout the season to write some journal entries. Check out her first one below!
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Hello! My name is Marlee Starliper and I am now a senior at Northern High School. This summer has been absolutely crazy--but also the most exciting summer of my life!
After two weeks of being off of school, my family and I drove down to North Carolina so that I could compete at New Balance Nationals. I chose to compete at NBN instead of Brooks so that I could practice racing in the heat, because I planned on racing next in Florida at the U20 Championships to hopefully qualify for the Pan-Am Games in the 3k. At NBN, I ran the mile and came away with my first national title! The heat was pretty intense, but thankfully I had been intentionally running during the hottest parts of the day to get adjusted to the higher temperatures and humidity.
Alas, the miserably hot runs were only to get worse, because the day after my race at NBN, we drove down to Florida to stay with my Grandparents for the week leading up to the U20s race. I thought that PA was hot and humid, but it was NOTHING compared to the Florida sun and suffocating humidity. But still, I ran later in the morning so that I could be better prepared for the conditions I would be racing in that weekend. I enjoyed spending time with my Grandparents and spent A LOT of time relaxing by their pool. When the day of the race finally came, I felt well prepared to race in the hot weather conditions. Sure enough, I didn't even think of the heat during the race. I actually really enjoyed the race because I shared the lead with fellow PA native Ariana Gardizy for the first mile, and it was like racing with a teammate. I pulled away in the second half of the race to place first and book myself a trip to Costa Rica (and Ariana placed second to also qualify)!! After the race, I took four days completely off so that I could enjoy the rest of my time in Florida and also feel good to go for another few weeks of training, since I never have had such a long track season before!
The next three weeks mostly consisted of training and doing lots of work for my online dual enrollment Psychology class. However, I was so excited to be a bridesmaid in my cousins wedding (and it was actually the first wedding I have ever been to)!
Finally, it was time to go to Costa Rica--my first time out of the country! Traveling there was a lot of fun (even though there was an extended layover and we only arrived at our hotel around 1am) because I got to hang out with so many other U20 athletes! Since we were in the middle of San Jose, we weren't allowed outside the hotel unless we were in a group with some of the coaches. We got to check out the stadium the day before the competition began so that we could run and do pre-meet stuff. The stadium was AMAZING and the area around it had a lot of paths to run on. The day of my race, I went with a group on a short walk to Walmart (it was more fun than it sounds because, hey, it's a Costa Rican Walmart!) to get my mind off of the race and get my legs moving a bit. My race was later in the evening, so I would get to race under the lights! It was so cool to get to see all of the other international athletes, and when it was finally time to race I felt focused and excited. After a tactical first 200m, an athlete from Canada, named Brogan, took the lead. I made sure to stay right on her as she initiated a good pace. I knew that she would be tough competition--and she was. I ran right with Brogan until about 800m to go, but when she started to make her move and I tried to go with her, I started to hurt, and a gap formed between us. I did my best to fight through my fatigue but didn't quite have enough left in me to catch Brogan. I was disappointed that I hadn't felt as good as I had hoped, but I was happy knowing that I gave it my all to place second. It was amazing to put the American flag on my shoulders, and I left the stadium happy to have been able to represent the USA and gain such a great experience!
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Since I ran 35 miles in those five days (I couldn't resist not enjoying those trails as much as possible!) , I took the next two days off. I didn't want to rush back into my normal training, knowing that a long XC season is ahead. After that, I finally resumed my normal training, still in the process of building back up my mileage. I couldn't believe that only after that one "normal" week, it was already time for XC preseason!
My team is hoping to end the season with a state title, and while my training is a bit different from theirs, I have enjoyed dedicating more time to help them with some extra strength training in order to help build a strong foundation for their running and hopefully prevent injury during the season! It's hard to believe that I'm a senior, but it's been a lot of fun to now have the opportunity to take on a bigger leadership role! We have one more week of preseason before school starts, and then it will soon be time to race again!! This summer flew by, but I am excited for my last year of high school and for what is to come this XC season! :)
