Reaching the finish line near the historic Estación del Norte railway station in Valencia, Spain, on Dec. 3, distance runner Ane Martinsen would soon realize that she had completed the 26.2-mile Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Marathon in under 3 hours.
It was a significant achievement for the native of Norway — especially when considering that she was first introduced to distance running only eight years earlier and 5,634 miles away in Philomath, Oregon.
“That’s a very good time, you know, running under 3 hours,” said Joe Fulton, who coached Martinsen in cross-country and track and has stayed in touch with her over the years. “I can’t think of another former Philomath distance runner, out of the girls, that have been under 3 hours. That’s probably a pace of about 6:40, 6:50 per mile for 26 miles … that’s solid.”
Martinsen came to Philomath as a foreign-exchange student from Norway for the 2015-16 academic year.
“I joined Philomath’s soccer team when I started school there, even though I wasn’t very good at it,” Martinsen said. “It was mostly to integrate into the school environment, try to make some friends, and also because my host sister, Megan Grimmer, played on the team, so it was enjoyable.”
However, it wasn’t long before Fulton heard about the foreign-exchange student’s running talent.
“Meaghan Alba told me that in soccer practices, she was outrunning everybody,” Fulton said — Alba being a dual athlete in the fall in cross-country and soccer. “So I convinced her to try cross-country and she finished fourth in the district meet like a month later.”
Martinsen remembers Fulton approaching her about running.
“He told me not to continue playing soccer since I had no talent for it at all,” she said with a laugh. “However, he said I had a talent for running. So, he recruited me from soccer, which I think was good for everyone. I loved it, and cross-country and track was perhaps the biggest factor in the great experience I had during my exchange year.”
Running success with PHS
Martinsen said she met her best friends through cross-country — Molly Klipfel, Taylor Knutsen and Alba — and developed connections with the coaches, including Fulton, Sara McCune and Diana Bushnell.
“Meaghan and I had countless running moments that year, and with each step, we got better and better,” she said, “and I also fell more and more in love with running.”
Martinsen placed fourth in the Oregon West Conference Championships and ran with the Warriors at the 4A state meet in Eugene.
“She really got into it — she trained all winter with Meaghan,” Fulton recalled. “She’d come to practices over at Linus Pauling where I’d meet them after school and she was working on her speed and ended up falling in love with the 800, which is considerably shorter than what she’s racing now.”
Martinsen saw a lot of success in the 800, finishing first in the district meet and fourth in the state meet.
“Such a positive, sweet kid … she was so much fun to be around,” Fulton added. “Everybody on the team loved her … she fit in so easily with the team.”
In fact, Fulton remembers Martinsen returning the following year.
“She came back for a visit the following cross-country season — she missed being in Philomath so much,” Fulton said. “She came all the way from Norway just for a week to visit us and came to our cross-country meet.”
Martinsen said she wasn’t able to stick with running after heading back to Norway following her Philomath year.
“I remember going for my first run when I returned to Norway — this memory is crystal clear to me — and I stopped after about 1 mile and started crying,” she said. “The longing for the running team was too great, and I felt very lonely in a sport where I had experienced such a strong sense of camaraderie.”
Then came the “russetiden” — a traditional month of celebration for Norwegian high school students in their final spring semester leading to graduation — and then off to college.
“I didn’t pick up running again until during COVID, like many others,” she said. “That’s when I found a running group consisting only of women, about 60 of us. There are about 10 of us who run together the most, have similar goals and are equally skilled. Here, I’ve gained a bit of the same feeling of camaraderie I had in Philomath. Apparently, that’s what it takes to motivate me.”
Martinsen trains with the group several times a week.
“There were four of us ladies running in Valencia and our results ranged from 3:04:27 to 2:54:00,” she said. “So, I believe I can safely say that we are doing a good job together, in addition to training smart and having a lot of fun at the same time.”
Martinsen has lived in Oslo, Norway, since finishing high school.
“It’s about an hour’s drive from my hometown, so it’s just far enough to make me feel free but also close enough to drive home for a Sunday dinner,” she said, calling Oslo a fantastic place to live. “I’m studying psychology at the University of Oslo, all my friends live there, and it’s a 15-minute drive up to the forested areas.”
Marka, the name of the forested and hilly areas surrounding Oslo, is where Martinsen runs in the summer and goes cross-country skiing in the winter. She enjoys the various routes that take runners by the sea.
Keeping the pace in Valencia
Competing on Dec. 3, Martinsen ran the 42.195 kilometers (26 miles, 385 yards) in 2:58:51 — 283rd among all females and 174th in the F-Senior division. Worknesh Degefa of Ethiopia was the overall female winner in 2:15:51.
Among the 33 Norwegian female entrants in the F-Senior division, Martinsen was eighth.
The Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Marathon takes runners through a mostly suburban setting with a scenic stretch along Spain’s coast. Live music along some segments of the route keeps competitors entertained and there’s even free hot chocolate and churros before the race and goody-bags handed out after the race.
“Her sense of pace is just phenomenal — she just clicks them off and stays steady,” Fulton said. “That’s not easy to do when you’re running that far because you start getting tired … you think you’re running the same pace but you’re actually slowing down. But she knows how to pick it up just enough to stay on the pace each kilometer.”
Here’s another way to put it into perspective.
“She was basically running the same 5K pace that she ran at Philomath as a cross-country runner but doing like eight consecutive 5Ks without stopping,” Fulton said.
Adding to Martinsen’s impressive feat is the fact that she just started running marathons six months ago.
“I ran my first marathon in Copenhagen in May this year,” she said. “I finished with a time of 3:02:57 and it was just a little too close to sub-3 for me to stop there. Consequently, I became very motivated to begin a new block of marathon training this summer.”
Martinsen said she believed a sub-3 minute marathon was within reach when she clocked a 1:24:48 at a half-marathon in early November.
“However, I still have immense respect for the full distance and was really nervous before Valencia,” she said. “It meant so much to me.”
Martinsen knew that a lot of factors had to fall into place for her to reach her goal.
“I couldn’t start too fast and I had to keep a cool head,” she said. “To run under 3 hours, I had calculated that I needed to maintain a 4:15 pace per kilometer … therefore, I had decided to start at a 4:15 pace.
“The Garmin watch can be a bit confused in races with 33,000 other people seeking GPS signals,” she continued. “Hence, I had written down 5-kilometer split times with a marker on my arm and followed them, along with the feeling in my body. I’ve trained a lot at a 4:15 pace this fall, and it’s ingrained in my body.”
Martinsen credits Fulton back in Philomath for knowing how to pace so well.
“He had a pacing trophy at practice and the one who was best at pacing got to take it home,” she said. “It wasn’t about how fast you ran but simply about how good you were at pacing. So, I believe the importance of pacing correctly has stuck with me since then.”
Martinsen said the first 25 kilometers went smoothly and that she stuck to the plan, including when to take an energy gel and drinking water at every aid station to stay fresh.
“At kilometer 28, one of my running friends, who I had been keeping pace with the entire way, dropped back, which was a bit of an extra mental challenge,” she said. “Nevertheless, I felt I had the day, and I was motivated to reach the finish. I also knew that if I managed to keep the pace, I would achieve my big goal, something that had felt completely unattainable throughout my life until now.”
The final, painful kilometers
In the 37th kilometer, Martinsen said her legs started to feel very tired and exhaustion was setting in. What she learned during her time in Philomath kicked in.
“During my running year in Philomath, we had a phrase we used — ‘dig deep.’ I probably whispered ‘dig deep’ to myself about 10 times in the last kilometers because it hurt so much,” she said. “Still, I was motivated, and I tried to pass as many men as possible, which was very motivating.”
Martinsen said she had tried to convince herself that the race was only 40 kilometers long as another method of motivation.
“But when I reached kilometer 40, I hated myself for it, realizing I should be at the finish and actually had two incredibly painful and long kilometers left,” she said. “I almost remember nothing of the last 2 kilometers; it was just about reaching the finish as quickly as possible.”
Martinsen said with only 1 minute to spare for the sub-3, the last 5 kilometers were just luck that the pace was equally precise. During the final stretch, she didn’t look at the clock or the times — she was too tired.
“Finishing a marathon, especially when you’ve reached your goal, is an incredible feeling,” she said. “I smiled from ear to ear, shed a tear or two, and was very proud of my effort. Additionally, it was fantastic fun to celebrate with my travel companions. I had convinced my partner to join me, and he finished in 2:50:27.”
Then, the celebration could begin.
“Along with the fantastic results of my running friends, we went straight to a rooftop terrace in sunshine and 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit), drinking loads of Sangria,” she said. “This was a stark contrast to Norway at minus-15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit). Running is fun!”
Martinsen said she loves long-distance running, especially marathons, because so many factors have to come together to achieve good results.
“I find it really cool that, especially for women, it’s almost impossible to run a marathon under 3 hours without specifically training for it. This makes the motivation to train high, and you feel a bit badass. … it’s a feeling I like!” she said with a laugh. “Additionally, I really enjoy going on long runs. In a busy everyday life, it serves as a breathing space for me. I get time to think without distractions, such as my phone.”
She plans to continue running in marathons. In fact, she issued a challenge to one of her close friends from Philomath.
“Meaghan Alba and I once talked about running a marathon in 2015. Now that I’ve done my part, I’m challenging Meaghan to do the same,” she laughed. “My dream and marathon plan are to run the six majors — New York, Chicago, Boston, London, Berlin and Tokyo. It would be extremely fun to do one of the American ones together — a quality reunion.”
