Feature Article - Marissa Chase

WARR10R™ had a chance to speak with Marissa Chase from Sarasota Riverview (Sarasota, Florida) at the 2009 New Balance Jamboree. She was the 10^th female with a time of 22:36.   She attended our WARR10R™ Running Camp at Berry College, located in Mt. Berry,  Georgia this past summer.  Below are a few questions that WARR10R™ asked her with her responses:

WARR10R™: Take me through your race at this past weekend's New Balance Jamboree.

MARISSA CHASE:  Well as they say on race day, saver the chaos and that’s exactly what we did! Because of weather and other problems the course was altered the hour of the race, ha ha and we made the best of it.  Our coaches told us it was a blank check race meaning they weren’t giving us split times to meet or anything it was just run as fast as you can.  So I just went out with the girls I run practice with and the weather did kind of get to me.  It was hard for me to breathe and my second mile wasn’t as fast as I wanted.  I also didn’t know where the 3 mile mark as so when I saw the 200m mark I was sort of shocked and so my kick was too late. I ended up with 22:26, 10th girl and made varsity which is what I needed to do so it was a good day for a not so good race.

W10:  How many years have you been running?

MC:  I ran a high school JV track meet in 5th grade but didn’t get real serious until 7th grade track, middle school.  So 5 years. 

W10:  What are your personal best times for XC and TF?  When?

MC:  There’s some confusion with my XC pr but technically its 21:01 which I ran freshmen year.  My mile time is 5:39 which I ran sophomore year and same with my 800 time of 2:32 I think it is.  I get to run the two mile this year so we will see! 

W10:  What are your goals for the season?

MC:  First, I want to get out of this 21 business but I feel like I can do that early in the season.  By the end of season I would like to be in the 19s and our team to be top 5 at state if not first! 

W10: What did you like best about the camp?

MC:  I liked the entire atmosphere.   I got to meet sooo many campers and coaches and everyone I met either helped, motivated, inspired, taught me something new, or just made me smile!   The runs were hard but do-able and I really felt myself get better each day!  Pool workouts were hard but fun as well! 

We want to thank Marissa for the interview and we wish her the very best this season.