The senior from Falfurrias finished 11th in the Region IV-3A meet and finally accomplished a goal she had been close to three times before — qualifying for the UIL State Cross Country Championships.
The finish brought her full circle from one year ago on the same course at Dugan Stadium during the Region IV meet where she fell short of the finish line.
“I was working hard and my goal was to be in top five at regionals,” said Martinez of her 2016 race. “I started the race and I was running strong, everything was going as planned.
“I was coming in and about 800 yards (from the finish) my legs start to feel heavy. I pushed through it and kept a good mentality. About 15 yards I was still in the place where I needed to be and my legs buckled and I fell.”
With the finish line in her sight Martinez tried to get up.
She tried to pull herself up along the chain link fence and even started to crawl to the finish line, just hoping to finish.
But her body wouldn’t let her and she passed out.
“It was very heartbreaking,” Martinez said. “I had heat exhaustion and I was out of it for an hour and a half. They had to ice me down completely and I was still disoriented.
“I was very confused because I knew I was right there and I kept asking ‘Did I make it?’”
Adding to her confusion was that her teammate Gavin Martinez (no relation) was announced as a state qualifier and for a confused moment she thought she had qualified. When Marissa Martinez realized she hadn’t all she could do was cry.
“It was just heartbreaking knowing I was that close,” Martinez said. “I was 15 yards and I was making my move toward the top five. I was in sixth and was going to be in fifth. That is when I collapsed. I was right there.”
Coming back from that heartache would have been difficult enough, but Martinez doubled up on catastrophe at the Region IV-3A track meet her junior year.
A reigning state qualifier in the 1,600-meter run, she hoped to return to Austin and better her ninth-place showing from her sophomore season.
Just before the 31-3A meet she started to feel pain in her right leg.
“We thought it was a tight muscle,” Martinez said. “We just kept stretching and trying to do everything to make it feel better. I kept running on it and running on it and we got to a point by regionals, I could barely walk on it without hurting.”
After ice treatment she forged through and ran the 3,200, but the pain was becoming unbearable.
Martinez fought through it to start the 1,600, but she knew immediately something wasn’t right and could not finish the race.
“I immediately started limping. I couldn’t run,” Martinez said. “I just tried to keep going. I just wanted to finish the race. I just started crying. … They took me to the ER to find out I was running on a fractured fibula the whole time.”
Three months in a boot put her perilously close to the start of cross-country season, and Martinez had a two-week time frame between the removal of the boot and being cleared to run.
After taking it slow and slowly progressing, the Fal senior finally had her breakthrough at a meet in Benavides on Sept. 30, saying it was the first time she felt like herself again.
“Benavides proved to me, you are right here again,” Martinez said. “It is possible. From there on, that is where I took the mentality to the regional meet and I knew I could do it.”
Getting back out on the same course — although with cooler temperatures this year — Martinez had a brief moment where she flashed back to last year’s disastrous finish.
Jockeying for position after being told she was in 11th, Martinez made a move to ninth only to see two girls pass her.
Martinez had to decide whether to chase a medal and a top 10 finish or settle for a state berth as her legs started to wobble, a sign she was over-exerting herself.
“I thought of the priority and I thought, ‘Let me finish this race. I’ll go without a medal,’” Martinez said. “I’ll make it (to state). I’d rather do that than not cross the finish line again.”
Saturday she’ll join her teammate Gavin Martinez in Round Rock for the first time. Although she knows what it meant for her to battle back from two disasters in regional competition last year and promise... Click here to read full article
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